The American Kepler space telescope, designed to discover new exoplanets recently discovered a planetary system composed by 6 planets, an extraordinary event. The system, which has been named Kepler-11, is composed of both rocky planets and gas giants that is located 2000 light years away.
"The planetary system Kepler-11 is amazing" said Jack Lissauer, a planetary scientist working in the Kepler mission. Scientists at the Ames Research Center dall'atipico were particularly surprised that the accumulation of planets orbiting the star in a very small space, so that Kepler 11 indicates a very compact system. "We did not think that even some systems could exist. "
In other words, Kepler-11 is the richest and most compact planetary system ever discovered beyond our own. "We know a few stars with more than one planet, and Kepler-11 is the first star who has more than three," Lissauer added (in some systems there are multiple planets, but not all have been confirmed). 'It is why we say that systems like this are rare. Only 1% of stars should have a system like that of Kepler-11. "
All planets Kepler-11, a yellow dwarf, are bigger than Earth, with a giant of sizes similar to Uranus and Neptune. The planet with the smaller orbit, Kepler-11b, is 10 times closer to its star than the Earth to the Sun (this is to say that is about 0.1 AU). The planets follow Kepler-11c, d, e, f, the most remote and secluded Kepler-11g, which actually is from its star half the distance of Earth from the Sun (ie about half AU).
"The five inner planets are closer to their star than any planet in our system, and the sixth is considerably close 'claims Lissauer.
One year on these atypical exoplanets should last between 10 and 47 days, while only about Kepler-11g 118 giorni.
«Misurando le grandezze e le masse dei cinque pianeti interni, abbiamo determinato che sono tra gli esopianeti più piccoli mai confermati, oltre al nostro sistema solare» continua Lissauer. «Questi pianeti sono un misto di roccia, gas, e forse anche acqua.»
Secondo Lissauer, Kepler-11 ha delle strutture e delle dinamiche che offrono agli astronomi degli indizi riguardo alla formazione dei pianeti all'interno del disco protoplanetario, una zona di gas e polveri interstellari che orbita una protostella. I materiali del disco si agglomereranno dando vita ai diversi corpi celesti che popolano i sistemi planetari.
La missione Kepler si protrarrà almeno fino a Novembre 2012, nell'intento di scoprire nuovi sistemi planetari come questo.
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