Double Planets Found Orbiting Twin Stars [1]

National Geographic -Luna Shyr in Beijing, 8/29/12

Illustration courtes T. Pyle, Caltech/NASA

The Kepler Space Telescope [2] has notched another milestone discovery: double planets circling double stars [3] in the constellation Cygnus, some 5,000 light-years away. It's the first time multiple planets have been found in a binary star system.

"It's much more difficult to form planets around a pair of stars," said San Diego State University's William Welsh [4], who presented the discovery Wednesday at the International Astronomical Union meeting in Beijing.

More: nationalgeographic.com. [5]