Kepler-30, a three-planet star system 10,000 light years away, bears an uncanny resemblance to our solar system.
In a study just published in the scientific journal Nature, scientists said they have discovered the first star system where all the planets lie in the same orbital plane as our Solar System.
Not to mention, at the center of this system is Kepler-30, a star as bright and large as the Sun.
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The Kepler-30 star system consists of three planets orbiting in the same plane - Graphic image: MIT/NASA |
The Solar System is a very special star system with the orbits of all eight planets being ellipses placed on the same flat disk, in sync with the rotation of the Sun.
Although humanity knows of more than 5,000 exoplanets — and thus a huge number of star systems they belong to — we have never seen such a sight of "sibling" planets orbiting on the same disk.
To find this special system, a team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California at Santa Cruz (USA) and other organizations analyzed data from NASA's Kepler space telescope, a device that monitors up to 150,000 stars.
To find Kepler-30's planets and determine their orbits, they monitored dark spots that appear on the star's surface as well as sunspot-like structures on the world.
From the data points, the authors concluded that Kepler-30 rotates along an axis perpendicular to the orbital plane of the largest planet.
Researchers then determine the planets' orbital alignment by studying the gravitational effects of one planet on another.
By doing so, the time variations of the planets as they moved across the star, the team came up with their respective orbital configurations and found that all three planets were aligned along the same plane.
This synchronicity gives the system a special stability, like our solar system, where the planets have been in peaceful harmony for billions of years.
Associate Professor James Lloyd, from Cornell University, who was not involved in the study, commented that the new discovery could shed light on how life evolved in the universe.
To have a stable climate suitable for life, a planet needs to be in a stable orbit. So the prevalence of solar-like star systems also tells us how common life is in the universe.
According to Lao Dong
Source: https://tienphong.vn/ba-hanh-tinh-la-dang-mo-phong-lai-the-gioi-cua-chung-ta-post1676417.tpo
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