Scientists discover a perfect space system of six planets moving in sync

Scientists have discovered a rare sight in a neighboring star system: six planets orbit their central star in a rhythmic beat. According to scientists, the planets move in an orbital waltz that repeats so precisely that it can be set to music.

The discovered system can offer a deep understanding of the formation and evolution of the planets. The analysis, led by Chicago-based scientist Rafael Luque, was published on November 29 in the journal Nature.

«This discovery will become a reference system for studying how sub-Neptunes, the most common type of planet outside the solar system, form and evolve. What they are composed of and whether they have the right conditions to support the existence of liquid water on their surface,» said Luque.

The six planets orbit the star HD110067, which is located about 100 light-years away in the northern constellation Coma Beregini. In 2020, NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) detected dips in the star’s brightness that indicated the passage of planets in front of the star’s surface. By combining data from TESS and the European Space Agency’s Exoplanet Survey Satellite (Cheops), the team analyzed the data and discovered a first-of-its-kind configuration.

In this case, the planet closest to the star makes three orbits for every two orbits of the following planets — the so-called 3/2 resonance. This pattern is repeated among the four closest planets. Among the most distant planets, the pattern of four orbits for every three subsequent planets (4/3 resonance) is repeated twice. The resonant orbits are unshakable: the planets have probably been performing the same rhythmic dance since the system formed billions of years ago, the scientists concluded.

Earlier, we reported that astrophysicists have discovered the aurora borealis over the Sun for the first time. According to the authors of the study, they found a peculiar type of long-lasting polarized radio bursts emanating from a sunspot, and the radio emission itself lasted for more than a week. The phenomenon was not like the usual radio bursts on the Sun, which last from several minutes to several hours. Scientists believe that this discovery may change the understanding of the processes occurring in the magnetic field of stars.