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Article: ASTRONOMERS DISCOVER 3-PLANET SOLAR SYSTEM.(News)
- Article from:
- The Cincinnati Post (Cincinnati, OH)
- Article date:
- May 19, 2006
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Byline: David Perlman San Francisco Chronicle
Astronomers hunting for solar systems beyond our own have discovered a remarkable new one in which three planets, roughly the size of Neptune, are circling a nearby sunlike star, which is surrounded apparently by a dense belt of asteroids.
The inner two planets appear to be made mainly of rock -- like Earth -- while the third may have an envelope of gas around a core of rock and ice, the astronomers say.
None is likely to harbor life, although the outermost planet lies within what astronomers call the "habitable zone." The habitable zone in our solar system is where conditions of temperature and ...