"We can imagine that a planet can share its orbit with thousands of asteroids as in the case of Jupiter, but it is mind-blowing to me that planets could share the same orbit," she said in a statement. Lead author Olga Balsalobre-Ruza of the Center for Astrobiology in Madrid, said the findings, published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, are "the first evidence" that such double worlds might exist. Another gas giant is known to circle this star, albeit from a much greater distance. A gas giant, it's three times the size of Jupiter. The confirmed planet with the suspected tagalong takes 119 years to complete a lap. The scientists said they will need to wait until 2026 in order to properly track the two objects around the star known as PDS 70. "They are allowed to exist by theory, but no one has ever detected them," he said in a statement. But planets in the same orbit "have so far been like unicorns," noted study co-author Jorge Lillo-Box of Madrid's Center for Astrobiology. They suspect it's either a planet in formation or remnants of a planet that once was.Īsteroids are known to accompany planets around their star - for example, Jupiter and its so-called Trojan asteroids. Using a telescope in Chile, the Spanish-led team spotted a cloud of debris in the same orbit as an already confirmed planet circling this star, 370 light-years away in the constellation Centaurus. Read more headlines related to science and technology here.They said it's the strongest evidence yet of this bizarre cosmic pairing, long suspected but never proven. Astronomers reported Wednesday the discovery of what could be two planets sharing the same orbit around their star.
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