by MIRIAM KRAMER
The planetary system around the star HAT-P-7 includes a companion star and two planets. These photos of the system were taken by the Subaru Telescope. PHOTO/NAOJ
A perplexing alien planet locked in a “backwards” orbit around its parent star may finally be explained by the discovery of an extra planet and star near the oddball planetary system, scientists say.
The discovery is centered on the so-called “backwards” planet HAT-P-7b, which orbits a star 1,040 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. The planet, first spotted in 2008, has long defied explanation because of its orbit, which carries the world around its parent star in the opposite (or retrograde) direction of the star’s spin.
Now, a Japan-led team of astronomers has found a second star and alien planet near the planet HAT-P-7b and its stellar parent. They used the Subaru Telescope Facility in Hilo, Hawaii, to make the discovery. Long-term gravitational interference from the newfound star and alien planet, which is a Jupiter-size world called HAT-P-7c, may be responsible for the strange retrograde orbit of HAT-P-7b, researchers said.
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