An artist's conception of the planetary system around HD 10180. Illustration courtesy of L. Calçada, European Southern Observatory
HD 10180, a sunlike star in the southern constellation Hydrus, 127 light-years from Earth, may have as many as nine orbiting planets, besting the eight official planets in our solar system (poor Pluto).
The star first made headlines in 2010 with the announcement of five confirmed planets and two more planetary candidates. Now, reanalysis of nearly a decade's worth of data has not only confirmed the existence of the two possible planets but also uncovered the telltale signals of two additional planets possibly circling the star, bringing the total to nine.
The planetary system around HD 10180 is too far from Earth for us to see directly. The five established planets are between 12 and 25 times the mass of Earth and are all around the sizes of Uranus or Neptune, meaning the worlds are most likely icy gas giants. Of the two newly confirmed planets, one is about 65 times the mass of Earth, and it orbits farther beyond the main group. The other planet is a super-Earth 1.3 times the mass of our home world that circles very close to the host star. The two new, unconfirmed planets also have tight orbits: A planet thought to be 1.9 times the mass of Earth completes its orbit in 10 days, while the other world is likely 5.1 Earth masses with an orbit lasting 68 days. That means, if the planets do exist, they'd be unlikely candidates to host life. "They are likely hot planets without dense, gaseous atmospheres, because they are just so close to their star," a scientist involved in the project said
A star about 127 light-years from Earth may have even more planets than the sun, which would make the planetary system the most populated yet found.
According to a new study, HD 10180—a sunlike star in the southern constellation Hydrus—may have as many as nine orbiting planets, besting the eight official planets in our solar system.
The star first made headlines in 2010 with the announcement of five confirmed planets and two more planetary candidates.
Now, reanalysis of nearly a decade's worth of data has not only confirmed the existence of the two possible planets but also uncovered the telltale signals of two additional planets possibly circling the star, bringing the total to nine.
"There certainly is, according to my results, strong evidence that this is the most populous planetary system detected—possibly even richer than the solar system," said study leader Mikko Tuomi, an astronomer at the University of Hertfordshire in the U.K.
"But the two new planetary signals I report exceed the detection threshold only just."
Early indications are that both newly detected worlds are super-Earths—planets slightly larger than Earth with rocky surfaces—but more measurements will be needed to confirm their existence.
Scorching Super-Earths
The planetary system around HD 10180 is too far from Earth for us to see directly.
Instead, astronomers detected the planets by measuring their gravitational tugs on the host star using the High Accuracy Planet Searcher (HARPS) instrument on the European Southern Observatory's 3.6-meter telescope at La Silla, Chile.
The five established planets are between 12 and 25 times the mass of Earth and are all around the sizes of Uranus or Neptune, meaning the worlds are most likely icy gas giants.
Of the two newly confirmed planets, one is about 65 times the mass of Earth, and it orbits farther beyond the main group. The other planet is a super-Earth 1.3 times the mass of our home world that circles very close to the host star.
The two new, unconfirmed planets also have tight orbits: A planet thought to be 1.9 times the mass of Earth completes its orbit in 10 days, while the other world is likely 5.1 Earth masses with an orbit lasting 68 days.
That means, if the planets do exist, they'd be unlikely candidates to host life.
"They are likely hot planets without dense, gaseous atmospheres, because they are just so close to their star," Tuomi said.
The astronomer now hopes to take more measurements and verify the planets are really there.
Tuomi also hopes to scan the skies for other crowded planetary systems like HD 10180.
"We have only just started to detect planets, and the known exoplanet systems are but a tip of the iceberg," he said.
"So [our] solar system is only one example among a spectrum of different planetary systems we will find in the near future and [is] definitely not unique."
The new research on the HD 10180 planetary system appears online this week on the website arXiv.org and has been accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Last edit: 2012-05-06 11:47:38
bITt.mAN Switzerland. May 06 2012 11:49. Posts 3401
So? This is pretty cool, that's a lot of planets, although it'd be much more exciting if they were more life-friendly. [OK now imma bite at Astronomy] but what does this actually have to do with anything, how will it affect our life on earth, here and now? What's so notable and worthy about it that we should stop to ponder and consider? Astronomers doing their work staring into telescopes .... ok, they beat a record in terms of 'number of planets around a star' ....... and? A nifty documentary in the same genre of study is often more fun, and easier to be distracted by, but if this excites you, have it your way.
Oh, and, 'General Discussion' is facilitated/possible.
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On May 06 2012 11:49 bITt.mAN wrote: So? This is pretty cool, that's a lot of planets, although it'd be much more exciting if they were more life-friendly. [OK now imma bite at Astronomy] but what does this actually have to do with anything, how will it affect our life on earth, here and now? What's so notable and worthy about it that we should stop to ponder and consider? Astronomers doing their work staring into telescopes .... ok, they beat a record in terms of 'number of planets around a star' ....... and? A nifty documentary in the same genre of study is often more fun, and easier to be distracted by, but if this excites you, have it your way.
Oh, and, 'General Discussion' is facilitated/possible.
Amazing how we can go from sharpening sticks to stab goats with, to mapping out the universe, and people can just say "meh". Complacency is a seriously negative force on this planet.
On May 06 2012 11:57 eviltomahawk wrote: I used to live in a star system with nine planets...
I know... Pluto will always be a planet in my heart.
I wish there were some way to get to these faraway planets. That would be awesome! ^^
On May 06 2012 11:49 bITt.mAN wrote: So? This is pretty cool, that's a lot of planets, although it'd be much more exciting if they were more life-friendly. [OK now imma bite at Astronomy] but what does this actually have to do with anything, how will it affect our life on earth, here and now? What's so notable and worthy about it that we should stop to ponder and consider? Astronomers doing their work staring into telescopes .... ok, they beat a record in terms of 'number of planets around a star' ....... and? A nifty documentary in the same genre of study is often more fun, and easier to be distracted by, but if this excites you, have it your way.
Oh, and, 'General Discussion' is facilitated/possible.
It is like artwork or music. What effect does it have on humans... nothing really, yet I still think that the fact that it is pleasing and relaxing to some is a benefit that should not be overlooked. I feel that if some people (like me) love astronomy, then that is perfectly fine and should be done for the sheer pleasure of it!
There is nothing wrong with going home at night and having a cold beer to just relax, if someone wants to look at stars instead let them; there is nothing wrong with that either!
Last edit: 2012-05-06 12:06:26
Luepert United States. May 06 2012 12:01. Posts 1734
On May 06 2012 11:57 iamperfection wrote: Can science get their act together and get space travel done already. I want to visit the rest of the galaxy god damnit.
Yeah or maybe its gonna for upper 10,000 only because its gonna be expensive like SHIT i would love to experience it but im afraid im not gonna be here when space-traveling becomes "standard" for normal people
"AFTER LOST GAME - I usually run around in circles yelling "WHY OH GOD WHY" in my room, pointing towards the sky. After 5 to 10min ,i get tired and go back to playing"
Man with a Plan United States. May 06 2012 12:03. Posts 401
As big as the universe is, the only news is that people still consider this news! There are billions and billions of stars and bazillions and bazillions of planets. Why are we still in medieval human-centered point of view guys?
Having said that, all scientists should stop whatever they are doing right now and focus on developing space travel/teleportation/worm hole technology ASAP!
Yo!
Zooper31 United States. May 06 2012 12:05. Posts 3658
On May 06 2012 11:49 bITt.mAN wrote: So? This is pretty cool, that's a lot of planets, although it'd be much more exciting if they were more life-friendly. [OK now imma bite at Astronomy] but what does this actually have to do with anything, how will it affect our life on earth, here and now? What's so notable and worthy about it that we should stop to ponder and consider? Astronomers doing their work staring into telescopes .... ok, they beat a record in terms of 'number of planets around a star' ....... and? A nifty documentary in the same genre of study is often more fun, and easier to be distracted by, but if this excites you, have it your way.
Oh, and, 'General Discussion' is facilitated/possible.
I could be out of the loop so to say, but iirc correctly multiplanet systems like this are pretty uncommon and investigating them could give us better insight to our own solar system as well as the evolution of 'complex' solar systems in general.
KimJongChill United States. May 06 2012 12:08. Posts 6424
On May 06 2012 11:49 bITt.mAN wrote: So? This is pretty cool, that's a lot of planets, although it'd be much more exciting if they were more life-friendly. [OK now imma bite at Astronomy] but what does this actually have to do with anything, how will it affect our life on earth, here and now? What's so notable and worthy about it that we should stop to ponder and consider? Astronomers doing their work staring into telescopes .... ok, they beat a record in terms of 'number of planets around a star' ....... and? A nifty documentary in the same genre of study is often more fun, and easier to be distracted by, but if this excites you, have it your way.
Oh, and, 'General Discussion' is facilitated/possible.
Amazing how we can go from sharpening sticks to stab goats with, to mapping out the universe, and people can just say "meh". Complacency is a seriously negative force on this planet.
This is really cool!
Why goats?
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Myles United States. May 06 2012 12:11. Posts 4329
On May 06 2012 11:57 iamperfection wrote: Can science get their act together and get space travel done already. I want to visit the rest of the galaxy god damnit.
Yeah or maybe its gonna for upper 10,000 only because its gonna be expensive like SHIT i would love to experience it but im afraid im not gonna be here when space-traveling becomes "standard" for normal people
Also depends on your definition of space travel. If anyone thinks that humans will be exploring the galaxy I think they're going to be very disappointed unless FTL travel is discovered. But I'm fairly confident that within the next half century we will have common commecial space flights and extensive exploration of the more interesting planetary bodies. That's my optimistic hope at least, since there seems to be a strong urge to stop funding nasa and such, which I think is a catalyst for important discoveries that might not get developed as rapidly when following a direct profit motive.
What needs to be considered in OPs like this is that we actually don't have the technology to detect a planet like Earth. We can only detect planets with large masses, or very fast orbits. It's entirely possible 2 Earths are in that solar system and we would have no clue.
On May 06 2012 11:49 bITt.mAN wrote: So? This is pretty cool, that's a lot of planets, although it'd be much more exciting if they were more life-friendly. [OK now imma bite at Astronomy] but what does this actually have to do with anything, how will it affect our life on earth, here and now? What's so notable and worthy about it that we should stop to ponder and consider? Astronomers doing their work staring into telescopes .... ok, they beat a record in terms of 'number of planets around a star' ....... and? A nifty documentary in the same genre of study is often more fun, and easier to be distracted by, but if this excites you, have it your way.
Oh, and, 'General Discussion' is facilitated/possible.
This is the major problem in your logic...most of astronomical research at this point isn't designed with the immediate future in mind. This is not to say that astronomy cannot instantly benefit humanity...it's done so before and will do so again.
Just because we've seen things before and it's not a novel idea doesn't make it any less interesting. Science, astronomy notwithstanding isn't all about new and grand discoveries most of the time. Instead, extension of theory and correction of error within existing theory is of paramount importance. As long as we keep finding planets, the chances of us eventually finding life somewhere else continually increases. It's not about beating records or being the first to find something new...humans on Earth do the most mundane things over and over and over again but it doesn't mean they're pointless or unexciting. Is BW/SC2 boring just because we've seen 1000 games before? Not necessarily. This is the same way but has far more bearing on our knowledge of the universe than anything we know of on our small rock. By your logic, you can only get excited by something once...if that's so, I'm sorry.
This calls for some Neil deGrasse Tyson I believe. (This guy tells it like it is and if he doesn't get you excited for more astronomy/astrophysics then I don't know what will)
The cosmos is unknown to us...anything we can get information about should be looked at with wide eyes and excited hearts imo.
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I know... Pluto will always be a planet in my heart.
Myles United States. May 06 2012 12:06. Posts 4329
