The first planets were found by NASA’s Tess space telescope. By later pointing the European space telescope Cheops at the star, a total of six planets were finally discovered, and the researchers could see how their revolutions around the star coincide exactly with each other.
When the innermost planet makes two revolutions, the second innermost makes exactly three. And equally steady relationships exist between the rest of the planets, shows the study as published in the journal Nature.
– We think it is very unusual for entire planetary systems to spin in their original orbits, says Carina Persson who is an astrophysicist at Chalmers University of Technology.
Frozen in time
Namely, there is much in the planets’ surroundings that can affect their gravity and change the way they move, for example large collisions.
– It is easy to disrupt such a system so that the planets get out of sync. If they haven’t, it’s proof that they’ve been fairly undisturbed since their formation.
The system is thus frozen in time, and can therefore help researchers understand how planets and planetary systems are formed.
Play the clip to see the planets spin in time.