ESA discovers a primordial system of six synchronous planets – Rossiyskaya Gazeta

An international team of astronomers under the sponsorship of the European Space Agency ESA has discovered a surprising star system in which six exoplanets rotate synchronously around their parent star.

A brief report on the discovery is published on the ESA website. Thanks to the Cheops space telescope, an extremely rare system was discovered that in many ways represents a mystery to scientists. As the researchers write, the discovery is especially valuable because the system found has practically not changed since its formation, although more than a billion years have passed since then.

The scientists studied a star called HD110067, which is located about 100 light years from Earth in the Coma Berenices constellation. It attracted the interest of astronomers in 2020, when the TESS spacecraft recorded a periodic decrease in its brightness. This indicated that at least one exoplanet may be orbiting the star, which periodically blocks its light from the telescope. Further analysis revealed not one, but two possible planets.

Two years later, TESS observed the same star again and confirmed the existence of transit signs. After this, scientists decided to use the Khufu telescope’s instruments to further study the curious star system. As a result, it was possible to immediately detect six exoplanets orbiting HD110067. Furthermore, it turned out that all of them are in orbital resonance.

“The outermost planet orbits in 20,519 days, which is very close to 1.5 times the orbital period of the next planet at 13,673 days. This in turn is almost 1.5 times the orbital period of the inner planet of 9,114 days” , the researchers write. noting that their resonant orbits are very strong. The planets have likely been performing the same “rhythmic dance” since the system formed more than a billion years ago, scientists say.

“It is extremely important to find orbital resonance systems because they can inform astronomers about the formation and subsequent evolution of planetary systems,” says ESA. “Planets around stars tend to form in resonance, but this is easily disturbed. For example, a very massive planet star, a close encounter with a passing star or a giant impact can upset the carefully calibrated balance.”

“We believe that only about one percent of all systems are in this resonance and even fewer planetary systems have a configuration like HD110067,” says Rafael Luque of the University of Chicago: “That is why HD110067 is a special system and requires further study. “It shows us the pristine configuration of the planetary system, which has remained intact.”