Three New Planets Found

[mrix]

Three new planets have been found orbiting a nearby star that is almost identical to the sun. Dr Marek Kukula of the Royal Greenwich Observatory spoke to Channel 4 News.

The planets were discovered by British, Australian and American astronomers.

The planets range from between five and 25 times the size of the earth - similar to that of other planets in our solar system.

Dr Marek Kukula, the public astronomer at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, told Channel 4 News: "We haven't actually seen them directly, and this is one of the reasons why this discovery is such a tricky thing to do.

"The planets are far too small and faint to be seen next to the brightness of the star that they're going around. What the scientists have done is look for the tiny wobble in the position of the star that the planets produce when they go around it.

"In the last 15 years scientists have discovered about 400 planets going around other stars, but the holy grail is finding planets that look like the ones in our solar system - similar orbits and similar sizes. We're a step closer to that with this discovery, so it is quite significant."

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