First exoplanet orbiting Sun's twin in star cluster found, scientists say

Sunday, January 19, 2014

First exoplanet orbiting Sun's twin in star cluster found, scientists say

Published time: January 16, 2014 20:50

image from www.eso.org

Scientists discovered three new planets orbiting stars in a cluster about 2,500 light years from Earth. Remarkably, among them they found an exoplanet orbiting a star which is almost identical to our own Sun in all respects.
The fascinating find was made by astronomers from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany. They have been monitoring 88 promising-looking stars in a formation called Messier 67 for the past six years. Messier 67 is a cluster of about 500 stars in the constellation of Cancer.
The discovery is so exciting because it is the first time astronomers have found an exoplanet orbiting a star which is almost identical to our sun, in a cluster of stars. The star, similar to the sun in mass, temperature and chemical composition, was named YBP1194.
The second planet that was discovered is also orbiting a star similar to the Sun. The third one is circling a more massive and evolved red giant star.

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