There are billion upon billion of stars in the sky - but surprisingly few of them are a lot like our Sunday . astronomer using theHARPSplanet finder via the ESO ’s 3.6 - metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile have found three exoplanets in the star cluster Messier 67.One of these planets is improbably unique , as it orbits the headliner eso1337 , which is our lawful solar twin . This is the only roll in the hay solar Twin Falls in a star clump that has a planet . The enquiry was leave by Anna Brucalassi of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and will be published in an coming edition of the journalAstronomy & Astrophysics .
Messier 67 ( M67)is an open cluster of stars in the constellation Cancer about 2,800 sluttish years away . The stars are close to the same age as our sunlight . It has been estimated that there are over 500 stars in the clump , about 100 of which are very standardised to our sunshine .
The planets were discovered during a six - year - long study of 88 stars in the cluster . The stars were choose for their brightness and accessibility , as many of the stars are too faint to detect any orbit planets . One of the star with a satellite that was come upon is a massive red giant , while the 2d is a main sequence star , like our sunlight . Eso1337 , however , is about identical to our sun in carnal knowledge to size , mint , and composition .
Unfortunately , none of these planet are in their various star ’s inhabitable geographical zone , as they are far too proximal to the sensation to have fluid urine . The major planet orbiting the the red giant is more monolithic than Jupiter and deal 122 Earth days to make out a revolution . The other two planets have about 33 % of Jupiter ’s mass and have orbits that take about a calendar week .
stargazer will use these planet to read how planet can mould in these star bunch , where everything is comparatively dense . It will also allow them to determine if planets are more or less likely to form around the more monolithic stars , or if less massive whiz are more probable to be adorned with a planetary entourage .
