Another solar system in Milky Way? Scientists discover six unique exoplanets
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Each of the six planets exhibit a chain of resonance. They orbit around the bright star HD 110067.
Just like our solar system in the Milky Way has eight (sorry Pluto, it's not nine) planets revolving around Sun, a planetary system a bit far from us has six worlds orbiting their star in perfect harmony, resembling to an extent our own solar system.
Notably, both these systems are in our Milky Way itself.
Chain of resonance for HD 110067
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The Sun and eight planets revolving around it are in a phenomenon called chain of resonance. Simply put, their revolutions are in sync with one another.
In this case, each of the six planets exhibit a chain of resonance. They orbit around the bright star HD 110067.
Also watch | Aliens lurking at the heart of the Milky Way?
"We think only about one percent of all systems stay in resonance," astrophysicist Rafael Luque of the University of Chicago said in an interview. "It shows us the pristine configuration of a planetary system that has survived untouched."
What does it mean?
Scientists say that orbital resonances are neither uncommon nor unexpected. They occur when two bodies orbiting a third body exert a gravitational influence on each other, in such a way that their orbital periods line up.
The HD 110067 is only the third known system with six exoplanets in a chain of resonance.
The star around which these exoplanets are revolving were formed over a billion years ago, scientists add.
"The current delicate configuration of the planetary orbits in HD 110067 rules out any violent event over the billion-year history of the system, making it a rare 'fossil' to study migration mechanisms and the properties of its protoplanetary disk in a pristine environment," the researchers write in their paper published in the Nature journal.
"The combination of host-star brightness and the inferred presence of extended atmospheres in most of its planets makes HD 110067 the most favorable multiplanetary sub-Neptune system to be observed in transmission spectroscopy with the James Webb Space Telescope. HD 110067 offers a chance to gain insight into the nature of sub-Neptune planets and where, how and under what conditions resonant chains form and survive."
(With inputs from agencies)
