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Credit: ESO, L. Calцada
Explanation:
Do other rich planetary systems exist?
Our Solar System has the most planets of any known star, most probably because it
is so hard to detect
planets around other stars.
Sensitive measurements, though, have
now uncovered a slight but
complex wobble of the Sun-like star
HD 10180 indicating that it has
at leave five planets
and possibly more, making it the richest
extra-solar planetary system yet known.
HD 10180's planets were discovered in years of data using the sensitive
HARPS spectrograph attached to the
ESO's 3.6-meter telescope in
La Silla,
Chile.
The planetary system appears
quite different than
our Solar System,
since all of HD 10180's discovered planets have
Neptune-like masses but orbit inside the
distance of Mars.
An artist's depiction of flying into this system is shown in the
above video.
In the future, more sensitive data taken over longer time periods may extend the
star-wobble
detection technique
into the realm of uncovering more distant and
more Earth-like planets.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: extrasolar planet - planetary system - ESO
Publications with words: extrasolar planet - planetary system - ESO
See also: