--- title: Scientists Discover Planet With Rare Three-Star System description: Scientists have discovered a planet outside Earth’s solar system that boasts a rare three stars, new research shows. canonical: https://time.com/4281183/planet-three-stars-rare/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-04T19:27:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T09:26:47.130Z article:section: Science og:title: Scientists Discover a Rare Planet That Has 3 Stars og:description: Researchers say it'll help them better understand triple-star systems og:url: https://time.com/4281183/planet-three-stars-rare/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3bcfbc60e2d8d0b4/69888d983c163962a845cb10/artist-concept-hd-1885-ab.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: artist-concept-hd-1885-ab og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Scientists Discover a Rare Planet That Has 3 Stars twitter:description: Researchers say it'll help them better understand triple-star systems twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3bcfbc60e2d8d0b4/69888d983c163962a845cb10/artist-concept-hd-1885-ab.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Scientists Discover a Rare Planet That Has 3 Stars  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Apr 4, 2016 7:27 PM CUT  An artist's concept of another known planet to reside in a triple-star system, HD 1885 Ab. An artist's concept of another known planet to reside in a triple-star system, HD 1885 Ab.NASA/JPL-Caltech  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Apr 4, 2016 7:27 PM CUT Scientists have discovered a planet outside of Earth’s solar system that boasts a rare three stars, [new research shows](http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/0004-6256/151/2/45/meta "undefined"). The planet, called KELT-4Ab, is what NASA calls a “hot Jupiter”—or a gas giant, like Jupiter, but one that is much hotter and with an orbit that takes it much closer to its stars. The alien planet at the center of a study published February in _The Astronomical Journal_ has a triple-star system and hosts a stable planet, which astronomers have only seen three times before, [according to the Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/04/04/it-turns-out-this-planet-has-three-suns-in-its-sky/ "undefined"). Scientists were under the impression that KELT-4Ab only had two stars. They learned that one of the original stars is actually a pair of stars orbiting one another. The findings are valuable in the astronomy world because one of the stars is relatively close to Earth and bright, which will give scientists more insight into the dynamics in a three-star system, the researchers say. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4281183/planet-three-stars-rare/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4281183/planet-three-stars-rare/"},"headline":"Scientists Discover a Rare Planet That Has 3 Stars","datePublished":"2016-04-04T19:27:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:26:47.130Z","description":"Researchers say it'll help them better understand triple-star systems","url":"https://time.com/4281183/planet-three-stars-rare/","keywords":["Space"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3bcfbc60e2d8d0b4/69888d983c163962a845cb10/artist-concept-hd-1885-ab.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3bcfbc60e2d8d0b4/69888d983c163962a845cb10/artist-concept-hd-1885-ab.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"artist-concept-hd-1885-ab","caption":"An artist's concept of another known planet to reside in a triple-star system, HD 1885 Ab.","creditText":"NASA/JPL-Caltech","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4281183/planet-three-stars-rare/","name":"Scientists Discover a Rare Planet That Has 3 Stars"}}]}] ```