Another Solar System Like Ours?

[chattanova]

“This system is interesting because there's a giant planet
at 6 Astronomical Units (AU) and four smaller planets inward of 0.8 AU,
with a huge remaining gap in between, right where we would expect to find an
Earth-sized planet.” - Geoffrey Marcy, Ph.D., Carnegie Institution of Washington


http://img30.picoodle.com/img/img30/5/11/7/f_Cancre55Solm_66dc90e.jpg


The orange-yellow sun 55 Cancri, in this artist's illustration,
is located 41 light-years from Earth toward the constellation Cancer.
Astronomers have now confirmed there are five planets orbiting 55 Cancri, a record
in human searches for extrasolar planets beyond our solar system. The foreground
planet above depicts the very large gaseous planet recently discovered, which
is half the size of Saturn, or at least 45 times the mass of Earth. The fifth planet is
within 55 Cancri's habitable zone where there might be liquid water on any
orbiting rocky moons.

http://www.earthfiles.com/

[revelations]

Something like this was shown on TV last night...ITV...I think?
I missed it. Does anyone have the link for it?

[real6]

Nasa scientists say they have discovered a fifth planet orbiting a star outside our own solar system. They say the discovery suggests there are many solar systems that are, just like our own, packed with planets. The new planet is much bigger than Earth, but is a similar distance away from its sun, a star known as 55 Cancri, the astronomers said on Tuesday.

Debra Fischer, an astronomer at San Francisco State University said that four planets had already been seen around the star 55 Cancri, but the discovery marks the first time as many as five planets have been found orbiting a solar system outside our own with its eight planets.

Life could conceivably live on the surface of a moon that might be orbiting the new planet, but such a moon would be far too small to detect using current methods, the astronomers said. "The star is very much like our own sun. It has about the same mass and is about the same age as our sun," Fischer told reporters. "It's a system that appears to be packed with planets."

It took the researchers 18 years of careful, painstaking study to find the five planets, which they found by measuring tiny wobbles in the star's orbit. The first planet discovered took 14 years to make one orbit.

They said 55 Cancri is 41 light-years away in the constellation Cancer, a light-year being the distance light travels in one year - about 5.8 trillion miles. The newly discovered planet has a mass about 45 times that of Earth and may resemble Saturn, the astronomers said.

[foreverspirit]

Nasa scientists say they have discovered a fifth planet orbiting a star outside our own solar system. They say the discovery suggests there are many solar systems that are, just like our own, packed with planets. The new planet is much bigger than Earth, but is a similar distance away from its sun, a star known as 55 Cancri, the astronomers said on Tuesday.

Debra Fischer, an astronomer at San Francisco State University said that four planets had already been seen around the star 55 Cancri, but the discovery marks the first time as many as five planets have been found orbiting a solar system outside our own with its eight planets.

Life could conceivably live on the surface of a moon that might be orbiting the new planet, but such a moon would be far too small to detect using current methods, the astronomers said. "The star is very much like our own sun. It has about the same mass and is about the same age as our sun," Fischer told reporters. "It's a system that appears to be packed with planets."

It took the researchers 18 years of careful, painstaking study to find the five planets, which they found by measuring tiny wobbles in the star's orbit. The first planet discovered took 14 years to make one orbit.

They said 55 Cancri is 41 light-years away in the constellation Cancer, a light-year being the distance light travels in one year - about 5.8 trillion miles. The newly discovered planet has a mass about 45 times that of Earth and may resemble Saturn, the astronomers said.

So NASA says. What next? Aliens coming from that direction? Sheesh!!:rolleyes::cool: