A solar system arranged just like our own has been discovered a thousand light years from the Earth. The group of planets line up in a way similar to those in our solar systems, with their orbital planes aligned with the equator of their Sun. Dr Roberto Sanchis-Ojeda and colleagues analysed their transits over spots on the Sun-like star Kepler-30 and found they mirrored those round our Sun. In our solar system the Sun’s equator and the planets’ orbital planes are nearly aligned, presumably a consequence of their formation from a single spinning gaseous disk. There are only three planets in the alien solar system, compared to the eight in ours, but it is the first time one with the same alignment as our own has been found. The observation described in Nature sheds light on the conditions that determine the architecture of a planetary system. Many such ‘exoplanets’ do not display this arrangement and isolated ‘hot Jupiters’ - giant planets that orbit too close to their parent stars to harbour life - are often misaligned, some even with opposite orbits. Source: The Coming Crisis
