Catalog Page for PIA14727

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PIA14727: Bird's Eye View of Kepler-16 System (Artist Concept)

This artist's conception illustrates the Kepler-16 system (white) from an overhead view, showing its planet Kepler-16b and the eccentric orbits of the two stars it circles (labeled A and B).

Mission:	Kepler
Product Size:	3000 x 2400 pixels (w x h)
Produced By:	IPAC-Caltech
Full-Res TIFF:	PIA14727.tif (21.6 MB)
Full-Res JPEG:	PIA14727.jpg (497.9 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

This artist's conception illustrates the Kepler-16 system (white) from an overhead view, showing its planet Kepler-16b and the eccentric orbits of the two stars it circles (labeled A and B). For reference, the orbits of our own solar system's planets Mercury and Earth are shown in blue.

Though the planet orbits its star from a distance comparable to that of Venus in our own solar system, it is actually cold. This is because its two parent stars are both smaller than the sun and don't give off as much heat.

Image Credit:

NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech

Image Addition Date:

2011-09-15