Artist's concept of the Kepler-11 planetary system.
Kepler 11 has been discovered to host a solar system of at least six planets with comparable sizes to the Earth. This high number makes the solar system unique among the ones discovered so far. The planets are extremely close to each other, and all are more massive than Earth. This system would fit within the orbit of Venus. The planet furthest away, Kepler 11g is only 69 million km away from the star. How the planets can be so close to each other, and the star is a fact that strongly challenges our models of how solar systems form. All the planets have low densities and seem to contain a significant amount of light gases. Planets from left to right: Kepler 11g, 11e, 11f, 11d, 11b, 11c
Size: 6000px × 3750px
Photo credit: © Fahad Sulehria/Stocktrek Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: 11, 11b, 11c, 11d, 11e, 11f, 11g, artwork, astronomical, astronomy, astrophysics, bright, cience, color, compact, concept, cosmic, cosmology, cosmos, digitally, discovery, dwarf, exoplanet, exploration, extrasolar, fiction, formation, gas, generated, giants, globe, glow, horizontal, illuminating, illustration, image, kepler, kepler-11, luminous, orbit, outdoors, people, planetary, planets, rendition, science, shining, solar, space, sphere, stars, sun-, system, systems, transit, universe, world
