Animation of the orbits of the known planets around the Sun-like star HD 10180. This star is thought to be orbited by seven planets, labelled from b (the closest to the star) to h (the most distant). The innermost planet, b, is thought to have a mass only just larger than that of Earth, but as it orbits the star at one-fiftieth of the Earth-Sun distance, it is almost certainly too hot for life. The outer planets are much more massive, ranging from d, at just over 11 times Earth's mass, to h, which is 64 times more massive. The planets were detected in 2010 by the HARPS spectrograph, at which time it was the planetary system with the most known planets (apart from our own Solar System). HD 10180 lies some 127 light years from Earth in the constellation Hydrus.<br>Restrictions: |