Sounds Of Space - Blog Posts

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1 year ago

Hot New Planetary System Just Dropped.

We hope you like your planetary systems extra spicy. 🔥

A new system of seven sizzling planets has been discovered using data from our retired Kepler space telescope.

Named Kepler-385, it’s part of a new catalog of planet candidates and multi-planet systems discovered using Kepler.

The discovery helps illustrate that multi-planetary systems have more circular orbits around the host star than systems with only one or two planets.

Our Kepler mission is responsible for the discovery of the most known exoplanets to date. The space telescope’s observations ended in 2018, but its data continues to paint a more detailed picture of our galaxy today.

Here are a few more things to know about Kepler-385:

Artist’s concept of Kepler 385, a seven-planet system with a Sun-like star to the left of the image and the planets varying in color and size are arranged in a straight line from inner-most to outer-most going from left to right. Credit: NASA/Daniel Rutter

All seven planets are between the size of Earth and Neptune.

Artist’s concept showing two of the seven planets discovered orbiting a Sun-like star. Credit: NASA/Daniel Rutter

Its star is 10% larger and 5% hotter than our Sun.

This artist concept shows NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft among the stars. The spacecraft looks like a golden cylinder with one end cut diagonally. Silver metal surrounds the cylinder, with solar panels all along one portion. Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI

This system is one of over 700 that Kepler’s data has revealed.

The planets’ orbits have been represented in sound.

Now that you’ve heard a little about this planetary system, get acquainted with more exoplanets and why we want to explore them.

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