該星球圍繞雙星系統公轉，圖中綠色箭頭所指的就是2MASS0103(AB)b行星，下方則是兩顆恒星。
Discovery: The binary stars appear to have a large object orbiting them (the circle and green arrow demonstrate the planets movement between 2002 and 2012)
在美國系列科幻電影《星際大戰》中，有一個被名為『塔圖因』的行星，該星球圍繞雙星系統公轉，上面的生物能夠看到兩個太陽掛在空中，很是奇特。據英國《每日郵報》網站3月28日的報導，來自法國約瑟夫·傅立葉大學的天文學家們近期發現了現實版的『塔圖因』行星。
法國約瑟夫·傅立葉大學的天文學家菲利普·德洛姆（Philippe Delorme）和他的同事在去(2012)年11月透過智利天文台望遠鏡，拍攝到一顆圍繞雙星系統公轉的星球。
據人民網報導，天文學家將這顆星球命名為2MASS0103(AB)b，根據他們的介紹，由於該星球的體積比較大，目前還無法確定它是行星還是恆星，不過根據天文學家的推測，它可能是一顆質量較大的類木行星。類木行星是指類似木星的氣體行星，體積較其他岩質的行星大很多。一般認為，木星、土星、天王星和海王星均為類木行星，它們的共同特點是主要由氫、氦、冰、甲烷、氨等構成，石質和鐵質只占極小的比例，它們的質量和半徑均遠大于地球，但密度卻較低。
法國天文學家們在研究了相關檔案之後發現，這顆星球的位置在2002年和2012年間發生了比較大的變動，同時他們所測算的該星球與雙星系統之間的軌道距離為125億公里，而天體成像結果顯示，其質量可能是木星的12到14倍，這個質量剛好位於褐矮星與大質量行星之間的分割線上。德洛姆介紹說：『這顆星球可能是一顆質量巨大的行星，也可能是一顆質量相對較低的褐矮星。』目前，研究人員正在對該星球的光譜進行分析，試圖對其表面的大氣成分進行深入了解。
Stargazers capture first picture of a planet with two suns – just like Luke Skywalker’s home planet of Tatooine in Star Wars- French astronomy team find object orbiting binary stars
- SMASS103(AB)b could be a so-called Tatooine world
- Distance from suns suggest it is a planet formed from solar dust
Somewhere in a galaxy far, far away... scientists believe they have captured the first image of a planet orbiting two suns.
A team of French astronomers believe the snappily-named 2MASS0103(AB)b - could be a 'Tattoine' world just like the fictional home of Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars films.
The image, captured by telescopes at the European Southern Observatory in Chile, shows a large object orbiting binary stars.
However, it is so massive that researchers are not sure yet if it is a failed star or an enormous planet.
They say deciding its identity could teach us more about how stars and planets form.
The arid, lawless landscape of Tattoine was the setting for some of the most famous scenes in the Star Wars films.
Planets orbiting binary stars have been seen before, but only through indirect methods.
Philippe Delorme of the Joseph Fourier University in Grenoble, France, and colleagues took the picture in November last year.
After searching the telescopes archives they discovered the large object had moved considerably between 2002 and 2012.
They believe it is orbiting the dual suns at a distance of about 12.5billion kilometres.
This would be close enough for it to have been born from a disc of the dust surrounding them, as a planet would.
Iconic: In the Star Wars films, Luke Skywalker lives on a fictional planet with two suns called Tatooine
But it is 12 to 14 times the mass of Jupiter, placing it near the dividing line between planets and failed stars called brown dwarfs.
'It's either one of the most massive planets you can form or the lowest-mass star you can imagine,' Delorme told.
Delorme added that the current mass-based dividing line between planets and failed stars 'is more of a working definition, as it is easier to measure the mass of an object than its past formation history'.
His team is now analysing the object's light spectrum to learn more about its atmosphere.
'It's a really cool image,' Ben Burningham of the University of Hertfordshire told new Scientist.
Asked whether he thinks 2MASS0103(AB)b is really a Tatooine planet, Burningham said: 'I'm giving it a firm maybe.'
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發表於 2013-4-3 01:23 PM
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發表於 2013-4-7 12:38 AM
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