Scientists have finally discovered a certain six-planet system, a super-earth that interestingly enough includes five different "mini-Neptunes" which do display an exceptional regular spacing, giving hints on how the system may have been formed.
The planets have been seen to be revolving around the star HD 158259 in the Draco constellation and were found using the previous SOPHIE spectrograph that was previously installed over at the Haute-Provence Observatory located in the South of France, according to a study published in the well-respected journal, Astronomy & Astrophysics.
The discovery of this exceptional system
According to a professor at the University of Geneva or UNIGE in Switzerland, Francois Bouchy, this discover has been possible due to the acquisition of a significant number of measurements, together with the dramatic improvement of the instruments and of the signal processing techniques.
SOFIA's observations have shown that the planet is the closest to HD 158259 along with the five outer planets with masses of two to six times the size of Earth, respectively, according to the researchers.
The system has also been found to be compact, in the sense that the very distance of the outermost planet to its nearest star is about 2.6 times smaller compared to the distance between both Mercury and the Sun.
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NASA in the picture
NASA's very own TESS space telescope has been able to observe a decrease in this star's brightness as the innermost planet has been transited between the observer and the star itself. The researchers have noted that hundreds of known multi-planetary systems are discovered, but only a fraction contain six planets or more.
The whole presence of six planets orbiting the HD 15829 already makes this system quite remarkable, but this is not actually the most interesting feature that makes it exceptional. The difference period ratio is also quite interesting with a 3:2 which means that while the closest completes three orbits while the second completes two and so on and so forth.
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The whole situation is much better understood if looked through a general framework of "resonances", which actually play key roles in the architecture of these planetary systems. There are also several planets that are said to be in resonance when they finally find themselves in this very same configuration periodically, right after completing an actual potentially different number of orbits, according to researchers.
According to Nathan C Hara, a researcher working for UNIGE and the very first author of the study, "This is comparable to several musicians beating distinct rythms, yet who beat at the same time at the beginning of each bar." Planets are said to be able to come close to the resonance, but not specifically within. This is the current case of the planets of HD 159259, according to the researchers.
It seems like as time passes, scientists are able to find out more about this "super earth".
