video: This movie shows the dynamical evolution of the KOI-126 system over the time of the Kepler observations used in the determination of the system parameters. The thin top panel shows the three stars (A, B and C) relative to the center of mass of KOI-126 as viewed from an observer situated in the plane of the orbit of (B, C) about A. The top right panel shows the action from the frame centered on A while the lower right panel is in the frame centered on the center of mass of just the low-mass pair (B, C). The large yellow star is KOI-126 A and the smaller salmon-colored and red stars are KOI-126 B and C, respectively. Sizes and distances are to scale, however, fluxes are not. The moving time-series shows the total flux from all three stars. The gray points show Kepler data. This video relates to an article that appeared in the Jan. 11, 2011, issue of Science Express, published by AAAS. The study, by Dr. Carter at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophyics in Cambridge, Mass., and colleagues was titled, "KOI-126: A Triply-Eclipsing Hierarchical Triple with Two Low-Mass Stars." view more
Credit: Video files © <i>Science/</i>AAAS