Six planet system found in almost perfect orbital harmony
Posted on 05/18/2020 7:40:39 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
By now, we have discovered hundreds of stars with multiple planets orbiting them scattered throughout the galaxy. Each one is unique, but a system orbiting the star HD 158259, 88 light-years away, is truly special.
The star itself is about the same mass and a little larger than the Sun - a minority in our exoplanet hunts. It's orbited by six planets: a super-Earth and five mini-Neptunes...
These two bodies are in what is described as a 2:3 orbital resonance. For every two laps Pluto makes around the Sun, Neptune makes three. It's like bars of music being played simultaneously, but with different time signatures - two beats for the first, three for the second.
Orbital resonances have also been identified in exoplanets. But each planet orbiting HD 158259 is in an almost 3:2 resonance with the next planet out away from the star, also described as a period ratio of 1.5. That means for every three orbits each planet makes, the next one out completes two.
Using measurements taken using the SOPHIE spectrograph and the TESS exoplanet-hunting space telescope, an international team of researchers led by astronomer Nathan Hara of the University of Geneva in Switzerland were able to precisely calculate the orbits of each planet.
They're all very tight. Starting closest to the star - the super-Earth, revealed by TESS to be around twice the mass of Earth - the orbits are 2.17, 3.4, 5.2, 7.9, 12, and 17.4 days.
These produce period ratios of 1.57, 1.51, 1.53, 1.51, and 1.44 between each pair of planets. That's not quite perfect resonance - but it's close enough to classify HD 158259 as an extraordinary system.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencealert.com ...
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Wow, that’s a pretty clear picture.../sarc
The only reason our solar system doesn’t look like that is Trump.
The music of the spheres.
I thought that was the music made from the break of an 8-ball rack on a pool table. Guess I spent too many science classes at Homer’s Pool Hall in high school. What’s the consensus say?
LOL!
So the super Earth planet orbits its sun every 2.17 days?
I’d say it’s probably very warm. Tidally locked, too.
If that’s the women’s ears I’ll bet they don’t listen to their husbands either. :)
bttt
Experienced interplanetary travelers take a supply of paper bags.
She looks so blue. I bet Laz could cheer her up...
Where de blue women at?
Fast Eddie to Minnesota Fats during their first session: “I’m the best there is Fats, I’m the best ya ever seen....even if ya beat me I’m still the best!”
Is it bad that I instantly knew she was an Andorian?
Well you can always ask “at what”? Old Dave Dudley sang “care for a dollar on the 5 and 9”? Just tell the waitress “water by it”. I don’t care if the girls are blue if they are built like that Caddy. :). Sounds like it’s farther away than Homers. Hope the beers good and cold. Falstaff would be nice.
Does “Bode’s law” apply to this system?
Engineered system
PIF: Engineered system
Giant (to us) pinball game.
FroggyTheGremlim: Does “Bode’s law” apply to this system?
Bode's Law is really just a mnemonic for remembering the diameters/radii of the planetary orbits in the Solar System. It's not taken seriously as a physical law. Kepler and Newton are used to do the real work, which includes, how long before system instability.
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