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New Solar System Found, We Hope They Have Dinosaurs

By 08.25.10

Clever girl.

Christophe Lovis and colleagues at The European Southern Observatory in Chile (which is totally in Europe) have discovered a new solar system with at least five planets (probably seven) orbiting a Sun-like star.  The star, HD 10180, is 127 light years away from Earth in the constellation Hydrus.  The five planets confirmed so far are similar in mass to Neptune and likely have nearly-circular orbits that are as close to their star as Mars is to the Sun.  The two other planets, if confirmed, are a planet closer in size to Saturn with a 2,200 day orbit and a planet only 1.4 times the mass of Earth with a 1.18 day orbit.  If confirmed, the smaller planet would be the lightest exoplanet yet to be discovered, and the solar system would set a record for the most exoplanets orbiting a single star discovered so far.

Two related videos after the jump:

[via VizWorld and MSNBC]


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