The strangest 'solar system' in the universe: The planets rotate... perpendicular

The orbital planes of the newly discovered planets are almost perpendicular to each other, because 2 out of 3 chose to travel from pole to pole of the parent star.

The interesting worlds HD 3167b, HD 3167c, and HD 3167d orbit a bright K0-type star, 149 light-years away, in the constellation Pisces.

According to a research team led by the University of Geneva Observatory (Switzerland), planet HD 3167 is a super-Earth, or rocky planet but larger than our planet, while HD 3167c is a "small" Neptune" , ie a gas planet. The planetary form of HD 3167d has not been determined.

Graphic image depicting the strangest "Solar System" in the universe - (Image: Sci-News)

The strangest thing is that the orbital planes of the planets are almost perpendicular to each other (forming an angle of 102.3 degrees).

Usually in a star system, including our Solar System, the planets will form together in a protoplanetary disk located in the equatorial plane of the parent star, so their orbital plane is also uniform. .

In this star system, HD 3167b rotates in the correct area around the orbital plane, but HD 3167c and HD 3167d choose to "wander" back and forth between the two poles of the parent star.

HD 3167b orbits its parent star in a super-short orbit of 0.96 days per revolution; HD 3167c takes 29.84 days per rotation. HD 3167d actually rotates with an orbit between the other two planets, taking 8.51 days per revolution but was discovered later, so it is named later.

The Sci-News newspaper quoted Dr. Vincent Bourrier, the lead author of the study as saying the phenomenon of the orbital plane is not uniform between.