A new Solar System is discovered

Thursday, April 15, 1999 Published at 13:04 GMT 14:04 UK


Sci/Tech

Out of this world discovery

The two known solar systems compared

By BBC News Online Science Editor Dr David Whitehouse
Astronomers have discovered the first solar system other than our own. It has three planets orbiting a star that is 44 light years away.

Hello,so its easy to see with the naked eye? well maybe I spied it one lone night watch on the good ship (yacht) Brer Terrapin,this was in 1997 and we were sailing from Cape Town to Salvador,in Brasil.It must have been about 2 at night,it was a fine clear night,the yacht was sailing along with full canvas set and I was the only person above decks,the skipper and two other crew were all below and fast asleep.

I was looking around,then started to look up at the heavens and beyond the closer stars,I was going deeper and deeper into space,I was mentally flying while sitting in the cockpit,it was a one off experiance,quite sober I may add! It was then I realised what infinity must be all about,there will be no end.


The BBC's Christine McGourty: The planets are huge compared to ours
The discovery of a group of planets orbiting a sun like our own will cause great excitement and raises the chances that there may be other forms of life in the Universe.

"It is one of the most important astronomical discoveries for decades," Professor Geoff Marcy, one of the discoverers of the system, told BBC News Online.

The star concerned is called Upsilon Andromedae. Although it is four hundred thousand billion kilometres from Earth, it is easily visible to the unaided eye in the night sky.