Kepler Finds Bizarre Systems

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Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday March 2, 2011 @03:47AM from the spinning-round-and-round dept.

RedEaredSlider writes "The Kepler Space Telescope has run across some truly bizarre solar systems. Among the candidates: a system with full-on planets orbiting in a Trojan configuration, one with planets that all orbit their planets in less than 10 days, and one in which resonances between small and large worlds essentially keep the thing together."

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Planets orbiting Planets? by nitehawk214 · 2011-03-02 03:48 · Score: 3, Funny

>one with planets that all orbit their planets in less than 10 days
Yeah, that is bizarre.

--
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
1. Re:Planets orbiting Planets? by kaoshin · 2011-03-02 03:52 · Score: 2
  
  Almost sounds like a moon.
2. Re:Planets orbiting Planets? by fahlesr1 · 2011-03-02 03:54 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  That's no moon! Its a space station!
3. Re:Planets orbiting Planets? by TheMidget · 2011-03-02 03:58 · Score: 2
  
  Almost sounds like a moon.
  ... with a nice and warm Klemperer rosette in the center...
4. Re:Planets orbiting Planets? by RedEaredSlider · 2011-03-02 04:55 · Score: 2
  
  Guilty as charged, typed very fast.
5. Re:Planets orbiting Planets? by Gilmoure · 2011-03-02 06:51 · Score: 2
  
  My daughter was born on Feb 29th 2000 (leap century). She won't have another birthday for 400 years.
  
  --
  I drank what? -- Socrates
6. Re:Planets orbiting Planets? by mbone · 2011-03-02 08:41 · Score: 2
  
  So, why didn't you celebrate on 2/29/2004 or 2/29/2008 ? If I was her, you'ld owe some back presents.
Fleet of Worlds by Ambitwistor · 2011-03-02 03:51 · Score: 2

Any Klemperer rosettes?
1. Re:Fleet of Worlds by TheMidget · 2011-03-02 03:54 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Any Klemperer rosettes?
  Don't forget to put on a Trojan before heading into the rosette...
Orbital Resonance Visualization by thasmudyan · 2011-03-02 04:24 · Score: 3, Informative

I was having trouble imagining the 8:6:4:3 resonance pattern, so I dug out this very cool visualisation: http://www.princeton.edu/~rvdb/WebGL/KOI-730.html (needs a WebGL-capable browser, for some reason FF 4 doesn't work though).
Obligatory by Anonymous Coward · 2011-03-02 04:25 · Score: 5, Funny

Yo Dawg, I heard you like orbits, so I put a planet on your planet so you can orbit while you orbit!
Re:Re-defining what's normal by geekoid · 2011-03-02 04:42 · Score: 4, Interesting

There is no overall 'normal' solar system behavior.
There is normal behavior for a specific solar system, but that won't apply to other solar systems.
What we have is a hell of a lot of possibilities within the dynamics of gravity.
SO we will see a lot of behavior we didn't think of.

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The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
Yo Dawg... by NitroWolf · 2011-03-02 04:43 · Score: 2, Interesting

... one with planets that all orbit their planets in less than 10 days
Yo Dawg... I heard you like planets. So we put a planet in your planets so you can orbit while you are resonating!
The coming dark by BearRanger · 2011-03-02 04:58 · Score: 2

For some reason I was reminded of Asimov's "Nightfall". It's sounding just a little less far-fetched now.
NOT Solar systems! by Ecuador · 2011-03-02 06:35 · Score: 3, Insightful

You can call them planetary systems or even star/stellar systems if you refer to their stars, but they are definitely not "solar" systems since they are... well... extrasolar!

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/. gone wrong? by MMC+Monster · 2011-03-02 06:43 · Score: 2

Forget the horrible summary.
I set the comment slider to 2.5 (what the heck does that mean, anyway?). At this threshold, I'm supposed to see four comments. Instead, there's only one.
Can someone please fix this?
Yes, I know I'm off topic, but where is this on topic? I'm finding /. less readable with the new style, which breaks the usability of the site. Therefore, I just go to /. less frequently. :-(

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this is all patently untrue by gosand · 2011-03-02 07:00 · Score: 2

I just checked my Bible, and there's nothing in there about any of this.

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My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
1. Re:this is all patently untrue by discord5 · 2011-03-02 08:09 · Score: 2
  
  I think the first page of your bible is missing. The one that says:
  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental
Give the ed a break by Radical+Moderate · 2011-03-02 07:01 · Score: 2

The post consists of one sentence with 53 words! You can't expect him to look at all of those words before posting!

--
Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
Re:IBTimes AGAIN? by macraig · 2011-03-02 11:52 · Score: 2

If you look at the profile of the original submitter, he's fairly new to Slashdot and has submitted many dozens of articles, but the ONLY SOURCE he has ever referenced has been IBTimes. I believe there's one or two more like him. IOW, they're being paid by IBTimes to do this.