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This artist's concept shows Kepler-11 -- the most tightly packed planetary system yet discovered.
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Kepler-11 Planetary System (Artist Concept)

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This artist's concept shows Kepler-11 -- the most tightly packed planetary system yet discovered.

About the Movie
The star appears to blink in a pattern. It dims like clockwork as six "hands" of differing size orbit around it at different rates. Kepler-11 dims when its six orbiting planets cross between it and the Kepler spacecraft. Calculations show the planets are nested in circular orbits that lie in almost the same plane.

Image details

ID#:
PIA13833

Date added:
2011-02-02

Mission:
Kepler

Size:
3300 x 2550 pixels (width x height)

Rating:



Views:
3,386

Full-Res TIFF:
PIA13833.tif (25.25 MB)

Full-Res JPG:
PIA13833.jpg (0.23 MB)

Image credit:
NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech