First Other Solar System discovered

The first solar system other than our own has been discovered only 44 light years away. Its planets are Jupiter-sized and its discovery suggests that solar systems such as our own may be commonplace in the Universe... potentially providing a fertile ground for extra-terrestial life. The large size of the system's planets also invalidates all current planet-formation theories.

Comments

Useful stargazing link

[Lars Clausen]

For those of you who (like me) can hardly find the Polar Star, here's a nice constellation-browsing site:
http://www.stargaze.force9.co.uk/.

-Lars

up And first CONFIRMED, NOT first

[J05H]

There are a number of other planetary systems
that are likely, and one that has been known
but not exactly.

The known system is 55 Cancri, it has two large
planets.

The other "likelies" are Lalande 21185 and a bunch
of pulsars. Lal 21185 has at least two likely
companions that are detectable, but they are long
period orbits (est. 5.8 and 30 year orbits) so
they will take longer to confirm.

The only reason this is getting news is that both
the SFSU and AFOE teams concur on the system. I'm
not dissing on either team, they have both done
insanely cool work that is shattering and
rebuilding our understanding of planetary
sciences. The SFSU team, headed by Marcy and
Butler, have discovered or confirmed the majority
of the extrasolar planets that are known, and
continue to release new results every couple of
months.

For a great resource, check out the Extrasolar
Planets Encyclopedia at: http://www.obspm.fr:80/departement/darc/planets/en cycl.html