 McDonald Observatory / U. Texas |
Click for video: A graphic shows the star Upsilon Andromedae with lines tracing the orbits of three planets. Two of the outer planets have orbits that appear to be inclined about 30 degrees with respect to each other, astronomers say. Click on the image to watch an animation. |
For decades, Pluto has been seen as an oddball in the planetary tribe – in part because its orbit was so much more eccentric and tipped than those of the big planets. But in recent years, more off-kilter worlds have been discovered in our own solar system. And today, astronomers are reporting that they’ve detected planets much bigger than Jupiter that are way more out of whack than Pluto.
Maybe Pluto, which was discovered by former Kansas farmboy Clyde Tombaugh 80 years ago, isn’t so weird after all.
“We’re not in Kansas any more as far as solar systems go,” Barbara McDonald, an astronomer at the University of Texas’ McDonald Observatory, said at a news briefing today.
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