United Kingdom
The newfound planetary system is more compact than our own and about five thousand light-years away
Agencies
Published: April 07, 2008, 12:41
Belfast: Astronomers have discovered a planetary system that looks much like our own.
The system bears two planets similar to our two planets— Jupiter and Saturn—orbiting around the central star with a size roughly half of that of the sun.
Scientist Martin Dominik from St Andrews University in the UK, told BBC News: "We found a system with two planets that take the roles of Jupiter and Saturn in our solar system. These two planets have a similar mass ratio and similar orbital radius and a similar orbital period."
The St Andrews researcher presented his work at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting in Belfast.
The newfound planetary system, which orbits the star OGLE-2006-BLG-109L, is more compact than our own and is about five thousand light-years away.
The OGLE planets were found using a technique called gravitational micro-lensing, in which light from the faraway planets is bent and magnified by the gravity of a foreground object, in this case another star.
Although nearly 300 extrasolar planets have been identified, astronomers have consistently failed to find planetary systems which resemble our own.
Dr Dominik said only 10 per cent of systems discovered so far are known to host more than one planet.
He added that astronomers were on the brink of finding many more of them.