Photo Kepler NASA
NASA has recently made what could be called one of the most fascinating discoveries in its history. NASA’s Kepler Space Observatory has released statement describing the possibility of three planets in orbit around a star called Kepler-9. Of these three planets, two have been confirmed as absolutes. This sun-like star and its orbiting planets are 2,300 light years away in the summer constellation Lyrae.
Kepler was launched on March 6, 2009. Since the launch, it has recorded small blips from over 150,000 stars. Kepler uses the star patterns of brightness and dimming to make planet discoveries. In the event a planet orbits or passes in front of a star, the brightness of the star will dim. The dimming patterns are the starting points for scientific research. Scientist along with the technology available, probes to see if the dimming was in fact a passing planet.
The latest observations revealed the solar system with two Saturn-sized planets and a third candidate the size of Earth. There are evident similarities and differences when the discovered solar system is compared to our own. The design of the newly discovered solar system provides insight into the assembly and evolution of planetary systems.
The planets in the Kepler-9 system orbits are coplanar. Kepler identifies their orbits as “nearly edge-on to our line-of-sight”. This discovery reinforces the notion that our solar system, also coplanar, was formed by the “agglomeration of dust in a flattened disk”.
NASA’s announcement was made a couple of days after the European Southern Observatory disclosed their discovery of five confirmed planets circling a sun-like star named, HD10180.