New Solar system discovered

NEW YORK: Astronomers have discovered a new planetary system which they claim has close similarities to our own solar system.

Using gravitational microlensing, the astronomers from a worldwide network of 11 nations have spotted the system which comprises a pair of planets that are orbiting a star half the size of our sun some 5,000 light years away.

According to team leader Prof Scott Gaudi, "Theorists have wondered whether gas giants in other solar systems would form in the same way as ours did. This system seems to answer in the affirmative."

Both the planets in the system, which has been named GLE-2006-BLG-109L, are smaller than Jupiter and Saturn.

While the larger planet is a slightly smaller version of Jupiter, having about 70 per cent of its mass, the other one is only about 30 per cent of the mass of Jupiter, making it closer in size to Saturn.

The planets are also much closer to their parent star -- the larger planet is 2.3 astronomical units (AU) from its sun, while the smaller planet is 4.6 AUs out.

In our solar system, Jupiter lies about 5.2 times as far from the sun as the Earth does -- i.e., it is a distance of 5.2 AUs from the sun -- while Saturn lies about 9.5 AUs away from the sun.

The sun at the heart of the new solar system is also dimmer than our sun but the temperatures on the two planets are probably similar to those on Jupiter and Saturn because they are closer to their star.