An artist’s concept of another triple-star system. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)
From Rachel Feltman at The Washington Post / 04.04.2016
Scientists have found a rare three-star system 685 light years away. Instead of the more typical single star, or even a pair, it boasts a trio of suns that coexist in a complex dance. And the system is rare even among the triple-threat crowd: It hosts a stable planet, which is something scientists have seen only three times before.
Researchers used to think the KELT-4 system, home to a “hot Jupiter” planet called KELT-4Ab, was a binary system — which is much more common. But according to recent research published in the Astronomical Journal, one of those original stars is instead a binary pair.