Astronomers Finally Find Two Planets Sharing the Same Orbit After 20 Years of Searching

Amaze Lab

Our Solar System is diverse in a lot of ways, but like most systems we’ve found, each of our planets has their own orbit. Now, for the first time ever, astronomers have found a pair of worlds out there in the cosmos that have the exact same one.

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00:00 Our solar system is diverse in a lot of ways, but like most systems we've found, each

00:09 of our planets has their own orbit.

00:11 Now, for the first time ever, astronomers have found a pair of worlds out there in the

00:14 cosmos that have the exact same one.

00:17 For 20 years, experts have believed that it would be possible for two planets to share

00:20 the same orbit around their host star, but they were having a difficult time proving

00:24 a theory.

00:25 Now, they have, in a system called PDS-70.

00:29 Insulet reports it was already a famous system, as it is where experts spotted and have been

00:33 observing two infant planets forming.

00:35 Now they've spotted another one, and it's following the path of one of the others.

00:39 The reason this could occur is because of what are called Lagrangian points, or areas

00:43 within a star system where gravitational forces balance out.

00:46 And experts say two planets on the same orbit could be a valuable asset to humans seeking

00:51 out new worlds, with one of the researchers saying, "Who could imagine two worlds that

00:55 share the duration of the year and the habitability conditions?

00:59 Our work is the first evidence that this kind of world could exist, and PDS-70 is extremely

01:04 close, being only around 370 light years away."

01:09 - Dr. Peter Harker

01:10 [Music]

01:10 (upbeat music)

01:12 (upbeat music)

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