Kepler Spots ‘Perfectly Aligned’ Alien Worlds

When NASA’s Kepler space telescope started finding planets at odd angles to their parent stars, scientists wondered if our solar system’s tidy geometry, with the planets neatly orbiting around the sun’s equator, was an exception to the rule.

That idea can be laid to rest thanks to an innovative use of the Kepler data which aligned three planets circling the sun-like star Kepler-30 with a giant spot on the star’s surface.

The study showed the trio of planets orbiting within one degree, relative to each other and relative to the star’s equator. That finding is an indication that Kepler-30, like our own solar system, formed from a rotating disk of gas.

keep reading

Image: The planets of the Kepler-30 system, seen here in an artist’s impression, all transit the same starspot, indicating that they lie in the same geometric plane. Credit: Sanchis-Ojeda et al

348 notesShowHide

  1. baconismeatcandy reblogged this from discoverynews
  2. tungor reblogged this from spoon-enthusiast
  3. sethoso reblogged this from discoverynews
  4. space-bovnd reblogged this from studyofnature
  5. studyofnature reblogged this from discoverynews
  6. boodlesandtonicplz reblogged this from discoverynews
  7. funkbiscuit reblogged this from discoverynews
  8. ezio-auditore-de-lalala reblogged this from discoverynews
  9. thomaswonder reblogged this from dante-the-elephante
  10. itsalljustenergyandinfoman reblogged this from discoverynews
  11. emoterangpassionlessnabaliw reblogged this from discoverynews
  12. bseverns reblogged this from discoverynews
  13. aaaaa42 reblogged this from acediamond
  14. acediamond reblogged this from passionatevodka
  15. passionatevodka reblogged this from valetudo
  16. cottonchocolatecookies reblogged this from weepingnaiad
  17. fivehundredthousandbillion reblogged this from discoverynews
  18. fyrdrakken reblogged this from sailaweigh
  19. laser-sheep reblogged this from discoverynews
  20. grace-eliza-williams reblogged this from ineedafavor
  21. jamiejoyaknow reblogged this from ineedafavor
  22. etanswers reblogged this from ineedafavor
  23. absorb-is-spongy reblogged this from discoverynews
  24. complexitea reblogged this from discoverynews
  25. mermering101 reblogged this from discoverynews
  26. crumbeye reblogged this from valetudo
  27. excadrunk reblogged this from discoverynews