Solar System's 'look-alike' found

[PaulyPac]

Astronomers have discovered a planetary system orbiting a distant star which looks much like our own.

They found two planets that were close matches for Jupiter and Saturn orbiting a star about half the size of our Sun.

Martin Dominik, from St Andrews University in the UK, said the finding suggested systems like our own could be much more common than we thought.

And he told a major meeting that astronomers were on the brink of finding many more of them.

The St Andrews researcher said this planetary system, and others like it, could host terrestrial planets like Earth. It was just a matter of time before such worlds were detected, he explained.

Dr Dominik told BBC News: "We found a system with two planets that take the roles of Jupiter and Saturn in our Solar System. These two planets have a similar mass ratio and similar orbital radius and a similar orbital period.

"It looks like this may have formed in a similar way to our Solar System. And if this is the case, it looks like [our] Solar System cannot be unique in the Universe. There should be other similar systems out there which could host terrestrial planets."

Dr Dominik presented his work at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting in Belfast.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7333155.stm

 

[Chronic]

I wonder if these people ever thought of the possibility that aliens don't want contact with us. If you observed us from the outside would you really want us around?

 

[Jokerman]

It's identical to this solar system and it has an Earth. Only the dominant life form there are cows and they herd people and milk them and use them for food.

 

[Chronic]

^^
I guess they also have problems with global warming. You know ... with all those cows.

 

[Jokerman]

You know ... with all those cows.

It's true they fatten the female humans up, but they don't call 'em cows. They're known as "Rosies." Also, cows call fat female cows Rosies. It's the ultimate put-down.

 

[Chronic]

I hope the tags don't show on google. This would be awfully misleading for Rosie O'Donnell fans.

 

[PaulyPac]

The astronomer was on BBC radio yesterday talking about it, at 5000 light years away, we'll have to wait a little while to find out

 

[Chronic]

How much money did they spend on finding yet another place that we can't visit?

 

[PaulyPac]

Here's a better article

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080214-planets-found.html

 

[Jokerman]

I guess they also have problems with global warming. You know ... with all those cows.

Here they are;

 

[Kadafi Son]

How much money did they spend on finding yet another place that we can't visit?

I was wondering the same thing