Get ready for a mind-bending journey into the cosmos! We're about to uncover a planetary system that's turning astronomy upside down.
In our familiar Solar System, the planets follow a predictable pattern: the inner ones are small and rocky, while the outer ones are massive gas giants. Scientists believed this order was universal, but a recent discovery challenges this notion.
Enter LHS 1903, a star in the Milky Way's thick disc. An international team of astronomers, using data from various telescopes, initially spotted three planets orbiting this star, which is cooler and dimmer than our Sun. The first planet was rocky, followed by two gas giants, as expected. But here's where it gets intriguing: further analysis revealed a fourth planet, and it's rocky too!
Thomas Wilson, lead author of a new study published in Science, explains, "This is an inside-out system, with a
