Geoff Marcy, famed planet hunting astronomer, announced today the discovery of a planetary system that contains at least five planets. It is the largest planetary system, in terms of the number of planets. yet discoved beyond our own.
The parent star of the brood is 55 Cancri, a sun-like star in the constellation Cancer that is 41 light-years away-- just down the block in galactic terms. The five planets so far confirmed in the 55 Cancri system are all gas giants, bur Marcy is optimistic that further observations will reveal at least one rocky planet like Earth in the system.
One of the gas giants orbits wirhin the star's "habitable zone"-- comparable to Earth's orbit around the Sun. If that planet has a large, rocky moon or rwo (think Titan, or larger), life could exist in the 55 Cancri system. As yet undiscovered rocky planets could also possibly harbor life.
We might have neighbors fairly near by.
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