Alien planet with 3 stars is actually a star itself, scientists determine
By Rahul Rao
published 4 days ago
An artist's depiction of the hypothesized planet HD 131399 Ab at bottom left with its three stars to the right. (Image credit: European Southern Observatory/L. Calçada)
Finding alien worlds in distant solar systems is a delicate task.
Astronomers' tools have come a long way since the first exoplanet discoveries in the 1990s, but the quest remains daunting: to find tiny objects hundreds of light-years away, far outshone by their host stars. It shouldn't be surprising that, sometimes, exoplanet discoveries turn out to be flukes.
Such is the fate of the purported planet HD 131399 Ab, which scientists once thought to have three suns. When astronomers tried to look at the planet again, they found that it was actually something entirely different and far in the background masquerading as an exoplanet. Now, the astronomers who originally found the planet are retracting their discovery.
The HD 131399 star system lies about 350 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Centaurus. The stellar system consists of three stars: an A-type white main star about twice our sun's mass, around which astronomers thought HD 131399 Ab orbited, and two smaller companions.
More:
https://www.space.com/three-stars-planet-discovery-retraction
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