• In circumbinary planetary systems, planets orbit a pair of stars that are also orbiting each other. Kepler-453b orbits its stars every 240.5 days. The stars themselves, the bigger of which is very similar to our sun and the smaller star which is relatively less bright and hot, orbit each other every 27.3 days.
  • Kepler-453b’s radius is about six times that of Earth’s. The planet is believed to be similar to the gas giants of our solar system and does not likely hold life. However, a gaseous planet of this size probably has large moons that could potentially be habitable.
  • This new circumbinary system is now the tenth known system of this kind and the third in which the known planet is actually in the habitable zone. These systems were once believed to be improbable but now they are considered to be common throughout the Milky Way.

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