A Lot Like Our Solar System

August 25, 2010
A Lot Like Our Solar System
Astronomers have made an exciting planet discovery
BY SUZANNE ZIMBLER

Picture our solar system. In the center, there's our star, the sun. Orbiting the sun are eight planets, including Earth. But what about planets outside of our solar system?
About 15 years ago, scientists developed the tools to detect these "exoplanets." Since then, they have spotted about 450. Most of the finds include one, two or three enormous gas-filled planets orbiting a star.
But on Tuesday, a group of European scientists announced an unusual discovery. They say they have identified a solar system that is similar to ours. It is made up of as many as seven planets orbiting a sun-like star. The star is more than 100 light-years away from us. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles. (A trillion is a million million!)
A Small, Small World
The five planets that the scientists are most certain about are giant—up to 25 times the size of Earth. According to Christophe Lovis, one of the scientists behind the find, these five planets are similar to Neptune. "They are made essentially of rocks and ice," he said. "They are probably not habitable."
There are also signs of two more planets. One is thought to be similar to Saturn. The other may be the smallest exoplanet ever spotted. It is only slightly larger than Earth. Because it is so close to its star, the small planet takes just over a day to orbit it.
Planet Hunting
Spotting faraway planets is challenging. The blazing light given off by the star they orbit makes the planets hard to see. According to the European Southern Observatory, the task is like "spotting a dim candle in front of a raging forest fire."
That is why we cannot yet be 100% sure about these seven planets. The scientists have not actually seen them. Instead, they used a powerful telescope to study the star for six years. The star gave the scientists clues about the planets that orbit it.
According to scientist Alan Boss, who was not involved with the study, this method is best for "finding the big guys." But, he said, the discovery shows that spotting smaller planets is also possible.
"The really nice thing about finding systems like this is that it shows that there are many more out there," says Boss. "Mother Nature really had fun making planets."


http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/kids/news/story/0,28277,2013396,00.html

990828 A Lot Like Our Solar System-Michael
The universe is a special place. There are still a lot of things that we don’t know about it. Such as new stars, new planets, new systems or even new living creatures that are in space. A group of European scientists had discovered a new system that was similar to our solar system. In the middle of that system has a star that is just like the sun. There are also seven planets surrounding the star in the middle just like ours. The star is more than 100 light-years away from us. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles. So the star is very far from us. But the European scientists said that there aren’t any living creatures and air on the planets. Rock and ice is what that covers on the planets. Scientists will still find out more things about the system that is similar to us.