Il telescopio spaziale CHEOPS ha scoperto un balletto cosmico eseguito da cinque esopianeti. Stando alle ricerche condotte da ricercatori svizzeri, un tale fenomeno non è mai stato osservato prima: esso rimette in discussione le teorie sulla formazione degli astri.
I cinque esopianeti, così chiamati perché sono fuori dal nostro sistema solare, orbitano a circa 200 anni luce dalla terra attorno alla loro stella, TOI-178, girando con la regolarità di un orologio e secondo una cosiddetta "catena di risonanza" orbitale.
Il primo pianeta della catena gira intorno all'astro in circa tre giorni. I seguenti lo fanno rispettivamente in sei, dieci, quindici e venti giorni. Vi è un sesto pianeta, vicinissimo alla stella TOI-178, il cui movimento è però troppo rapido per poter essere in risonanza con gli altri.
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