Star System With a Record 9 Planets Found

—

The sun-like star, called HD 10180, located approximately 127 light-years away in the constellation Hydrus, is home to a record nine planets, making it  the most populated system of extrasolar planets yet found. In a previous study that was published in August 2010, astronomers identified five confirmed alien worlds and two planetary candidates. If confirmed, the planetary system around ‘HD 10180’ would be the richest-ever discovered. 

The new study confirms both previous candidates in the HD 10180 system, and also suggests that two more planets could be orbiting the star said lead author Mikko Tuomi, at the Centre for Astrophysics Research at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield, UK. “Now that Pluto is not a planet, this system is likely more planet-rich than the Solar System,” says Tuomi.

Tuomi’s analysis, accepted for publication on 6 April by the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, is a re-interpretation of 190 measurements made between 2003 and 2009 by the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS), a spectrograph on the 3.6-metre La Silla telescope in Chile, which looks for periodic wobbles in a star caused by the tug of its planets. The 2010 announcement from the HARPS team identified five planets, with suggestions of a sixth and seventh.

Since the newly detected candidates are still unconfirmed, more research is needed to determine if they are bona fide planets, and not erroneous signals.

(via dailygalaxy)