Showing posts with label King of the Galaxy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label King of the Galaxy. Show all posts

Sunday, July 15, 2012

New King of the Galaxy Crowned

The Bad Astronomer (found at Google+, Twitter, Facebook and of course the Bad Astronomy Blog) leads on the story of the star HD 10180, which is a star you can't see with the naked eye, but is readily seen with a telescope. It is in the Hydrus constellation, if your are familiar with your constellations (Hydrus has four stars with planets!). According to a reassessment of the data concerning this star, it seems it possesses nine planets. If you are counting, that is one more planet than our own solar system (or Sol System, if you prefer) contains, if you accept Pluto's current status (RIP Pluto). So, the score so far on the solar system with the most planets is...

HD 10180         9 Planets          Status: King of the Galaxy
Solar System    8 Planets           Status: Runner-up
Kepler 11          6 Planets           Status: Never wins at anything