On Jan 25 2021, scientists found a solar system with planets arranged in an unusual order and in a particularly irregular rhythm, proving to be the next mystery of our nearby cosmos.
The system was located around the star TOI-178, which is 200 lightyears away. Many of our solar systems are made in a way with planets with similar properties and densities together like Mercury to Mars being all rocky planets. However, this system was seen to have “a planet as dense as the Earth right next to a very fluffy planet with half the density of Neptune, followed by a planet with the density of Neptune” said Nathan Hara from the Universite of Geneve, Switzerland. These orbits are seen in a resonant dance all except one which is different in its own sense. Is it true then that our universe has exceptions or does it still have variables undiscovered to man? Digging deep into the numbers, astronomers from the ESA (European Space Agency) also found that the planets orbited the star every 2, 3, 6, 10 and 20 days and this left a gap in which scientists though there must be a planet with an orbit of 15 days. Just when the CHEOPS satellite was to take a closer look, it had to swerve away from collision with space junk, pushing another trail of hide and seek into the mystery.
This discovery could mean a lot in our study of space with the idea of dark matter still being ambiguous but existent and the formation of stars and galaxies still being concentrated to one idea of the Big Bang, leading to our solar system. Hence, this research could be essential in making our understanding of the universe intellectually transcendent and scientifically proven.
