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Planetary system found that resembles ours - June 13, 2002
(Richard Stenger, CNN, June 13, 2002)
But the orbit of the Jupiter-like planet is stable enough to foster a benign, life-friendly environment in the inner solar orbit, the astronomers said. . . . Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, is thought to have protected terrestrial life in its infancy, ingesting dangerous hordes of comets before they collided with our planet. . . . But whether a terrestrial planet lurks near the star will remain a matter of speculation for some time. The hunt for exoplanets has turned up only gas giants so far because of the limits of current search methods. . . . The new discoveries, announced at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., include another planet around 55 Cancri, a star visible to the naked eye in the constellation Cancer; and the smallest known exoplanet, one near the star HD49674 with less than half the mass of Saturn.

posted by LoZo 8:16 PM