Astronomers Detect Planetary System Similar To Our Own 54
littlesparkvt writes "A team of astrophysicists at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und- Raumfahrt; DLR), together with German and European colleagues, has discovered the most extensive exoplanetary system to date. Seven planets circle the star KOI-351 – more than in other known planetary systems. They are arranged in a similar fashion to the eight planets in the Solar System, with small rocky planets close to the parent star and gas giant planets at greater distances. Although the planetary system around KOI-351 is packed together more tightly, it provides an interesting comparison to our cosmic home."
Similar to our own.... (Score:5, Informative)
Title is a bit misleading. The star is pretty close (based on temp and size, but no spectral type), yes, but all the planets are WAAAAAAAAAAY too close to it to be anywhere near habitable. The ones farther out are Jupiter sized...
Two of the planets closer in are a bit bigger than earth, but at orbital periods of 58 and 8 days, they're a bit too hot for my taste.
tl;dr, the qualifier " packed together more tightly" is a little bit more important than what the summary suggests
Re:Packed together tightly is misleading (Score:3, Informative)
Um no. Life doesn't have a monopoly on splitting oxygen atoms off other compounds (CO2, H2O) - simple photolysis can do the same thing.