Search for ET & the Origin of Life on Earth: August 2008

Wednesday 13 August 2008

Is Our Solar System a Rarity in Milky Way? Scientists Say "Yes"

There goes the escape route for Dick'n'George.

Three Northwestern University researchers have learned that our solar system in which the Earth orbits our sun is the exception in the Milky Way rather than the rule.

"We now know that these other planetary systems don't look like the
solar system at all," said Frederic A. Rasio, senior author of the
Science paper, and a theoretical astrophysicist and professor of
physics and astronomy at Northwestern. "We now better understand the process of planet formation and
can explain the properties of the strange exoplanets we've observed. We
also know that the solar system is special and understand at some level
what makes it special."