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Star with planets

Kepler-16

Also KOI-1611

Open in Ouranos

A pair of stars orbited by a Saturn-sized planet that sees two suns — a real Tatooine.

Measured

Distance
246 light-years
Constellation
Cygnus
Position (J2000)
RA 19h 16m 18s, Dec +51.76°

How far, from the Sun

246 light-years. To cross it:

  • Light246 years
  • Voyager 1's speed4.36 million years
  • Driving at 100 km/h2.65 billion years

Voyager 1 at the speed it moved outward over the year to 2026-10-25 (JPL Horizons). Driving: nonstop, never refuelling.

Facts

  • Kepler-16 b, announced in 2011, was the first planet confirmed by transits to orbit two stars.
  • Its distance comes from a Gaia parallax: the tiny yearly shift in its position as the Earth circles the Sun.

Where this comes from

  • Gaia DR3 parallax 13.2806 ± 0.0284 mas, Gaia DR3 2133476355197071616 (Gaia Collaboration 2023, A&A 674, A1)
  • This research has made use of the SIMBAD database, CDS, Strasbourg, France (Wenger et al. 2000, A&AS 143, 9).
  • This research has made use of the VizieR catalogue access tool, CDS, Strasbourg, France (DOI: 10.26093/cds/vizier).

Every catalogue Ouranos draws is credited on the credits page.