solar system

Solar Systems Like Ours

Scientists find two gas giants orbiting a star, and with it up the chances of our discovering another Earth

Less than fifteen years ago, the concept of an extrasolar planet orbiting a star much like our own was only a theory. Since that time, we've discovered nearly 300 extrasolar planets in all, but have consistently failed to find systems which orbit around stars resembling the sun. Today, the BBC is reporting on a find by astronomers from St. Andrews University of two gas giants on par with Saturn and Jupiter in orbit around a star half the size of our sun. While the finding is not a direct link to a system similar to ours, it does present an increased likelihood that our system is not unique.

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Rethinking the Planets

The most exclusive club in the solar system will be revising its membership rules this year

The most exclusive club in the solar system will be revising its membership rules this year

In all of history, only nine orbs in the sun's entourage have earned the title "planet." But that changed last summer, when an object significantly bigger than Pluto was spotted lurking in a little-explored region of the solar system known as the Kuiper Belt.

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