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A planetary system containing a minimum of five planets has been discovered around the star HD 10180. The distant star which is much like our own sun is 127 light years from Earth in the constellation of Hydrus

The new planets were discovered by the European Southern Observatory using the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher spectrograph or HARPs for short. HARPs is extremely precise and responsible for the discovery of more exoplanets than any other instrument.

Astronomers at the ESO studied the star HD 10180 over a period of six years detecting the strongest wobbles from five planets. The mass of these planets roughly correspond to the mass of Neptune.

Most exciting of all though is that astronomers believe there are two more planets present in the system one of which is only 1.4 times the mass of Earth, which would make it the smallest exoplanet ever discovered. The planet is far too close to the star to harbor any life taking only one day to make a complete orbit.

Dr Joe Liske from the ESO said, “There is no doubt that this remarkable discovery highlights the fact that we are now entering a new era in exoplanet science”.

The ESO has three observing sites in the Atacama region of Chile boasting the most advanced optical telescope in the world. Exoplanets are planets which exist outside of our solar system, the first was detected in 1992 and so far almost 500 have been found.

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