The planetary system is located at a distance of 10.5 light years from Earth.
NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has discovered a system of exoplanets in the constellation Eridanus that closely resembles the solar system. As reported on the NASA website, the system is located at a distance of 10.5 light years from Earth.
The star Epsilon Eridani, around which the planets revolve, resembles a young sun. The system will allow scientists to establish how the planets, which were formed around stars similar to our star, develop.
Earlier, researchers have already established that a disk of "debris" revolves around the star, which indicates that the formation of planets around the star has already completed. Such "debris" can take the form of gas and dust, or small objects of rock and ice. Debris and disks can form belts similar to the Kuiper belt in the solar system.
Researchers using computer simulations have identified possible regions of the location of the belts of fragments in the discovered system. According to one of them, the fragments form two separate rings, which are located in the place of the main asteroid belt and the orbit of Uranus in the solar system. In this case, the largest of the planets in the system can be associated with the belt of fragments. According to the second theory, the fragments are not concentrated in belts and are not associated with any planet of the system.
Scientists have found that in the Epsilon Eridani system, the belts of fragments are located in accordance with the first model.