Alien Solar System Discovered By Astronomers

By: Bill Waters
08/25/2010 10:33 AM ET

Alien solar system discovered by astronomers. Chile astronomers believe they have discovered a solar system with Earth-like planets. The system is called the HD 10180 solar and the alien home is almost 127 light-years away from Earth.

Solar systems are everywhere, but this one is like our own. According to the researchers, the circling of the planets around the HD 10180 is in regular pattern, though their arrangement is comparatively more compact. The discovery marks the highest tally of alien worlds that have ever been spotted around a single star.

The HD 10180 star lies in the constellation of Hydra, the water snake. The astronomers detected the newfound star using a massive telescope at the European Southern Observatory in Chile. The observation went on for more than six years, and researchers used a highly sensitive and world-beating “planet hunter” called HARPS.

“This remarkable discovery also highlights the fact that we are now entering a new era in exoplanet research: the study of complex planetary systems and not just of individual planets,” astronomer Christophe Lovis said in a statement. It’s still too early to know if there is life on the planets. The planets are also too far away to send a Mars-like probe to retrieve additional data.

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