Sentences with phrase «planet systems tend»

While multiple - planet systems tend to have circular orbits that all lie in the same plane — like our solar system — the orbits of singletons tend to be more elliptical and are often misaligned with the spins of their stars.

Not exact matches

Over time, the rings spread out, and the icy bits that drifted farthest from Saturn eventually reached distances where their gravitational attraction for each other could overcome the planet's tidal forces that tended to rip them apart — a process that is still happening today, according to observations by the Cassini spacecraft now touring the Saturn system.

Astronomers have discovered that stars containing low amounts of the element lithium tend to host solar systems, a result that could dramatically reduce the time it will take to detect another Earth - like planet.

Detecting a habitable planet is an enormous challenge due to the brightness of the planetary system's host star, which tends to overwhelm the relatively dim planets.

Planets in our solar system tend to have circular orbits and lie in the same plane.

Its ability to detect planets on the other side of the galaxy has revamped our understanding of how solar systems form, which types of stars tend to pair with which types of planets, and shed light on the early dynamics of solar system formation.

In contrast, true transiting planets would appear clustered around a smaller number of Kepler targets if detectable planets tend to come in systems and / or if the orbital planes of planets encircling the same star are correlated.

This result, that systems with multiple transiting planets are less likely to include a transiting giant planet, suggests that close - in giant planets tend to disrupt the orbital inclinations of small planets in flat systems, or maybe even to prevent the formation of such systems in the first place.