Today is a spectacular day for astronomers around the world. The Gemini Observatory on Hawaii discovered four new planets orbiting stars outside our solar system.
For years astronomers have hoped to find planets orbiting other stars, but until now those hopes have been nothing more than dreams. They've used the wobble affect to try to guess where planets are, but have never been able to directly image one. Until now.
This system, named HR 8799, is a big first step toward finding another earth-like planet, which one day may lead us to find life forms other than our own.
Unfortunately, none of these newly discovered planets is even close to being habitable to life. However, it does open the door and lets scientists worldwide know that we are not the only planet system in the world.
The system is about 130 light years from earth in the Pegasus constellation. The planets are about 10 times the mass of Jupiter.
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