UTAS astronomers help uncover first solar system that resembles ours
Posted by Swinburne University of Technology
University of Tasmania astronomers have played an important role in the discovery of the first planetary system with similarities to our Solar System. Dr John Greenhill and Dr Stefan Dieters, from the UTAS School of Mathematics and Physics, are the Australian contributors to an international collaboration, led by Dr Scott Gaudi of Ohio State University, which has uncovered the system and reported its results today (Friday, February 15) in the prestigious international journal, Science.
The newly discovered system, which is code-named OGLE-2006-BLG-109L, contains two planets orbiting a cooler star half the mass of our Sun, about 5000 light years from Earth.
It resembles a scaled down version of our Solar System with the two planets having mass ratios (as compared with their star), orbital separations and surface temperatures similar to those of Jupiter and Saturn.
More information available here.
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