Planet discovery boosts hope of place like Earth
Posted on: Friday, 4 July 2003, 06:00 CDT
A JUPITER- like planet has been discovered giving astronomers their best hope yet of finding another solar system similar to our own.
The planet,90 light years from Earth and about twice the mass of Jupiter, takes an almost circular path around its Sun- like parent star.
It occupies a similar orbital position to Jupiter, over three times further from its star as the Earth is from the Sun.
Dr Hugh Jones,from Liverpool John Moores University, who headed the British-ledastronomers, said: "This planet is going round in a nearly circular orbit three-fifths the size of our own Jupiter. This is the closest we have yet got to a real solar system-like planet,and advances our search for systems that are even more like our own."
The star,designated HD70642,is situated in the southern constellation Puppis and has properties very similar to those of the Sun.
It was discovered using the 3.9metre Anglo-Australian telescope in New South Wales.
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