There is a small corner of the universe, approximately 105 light years from uswhere the laws of physics seem to have been transformed into music. Is called HD 110067 and is a star belonging to the constellation of Berenice’s hair. Six planets similar in size to Neptune rotate around her, linked together by a relationship so precise that it seems like cosmic choreography.
Astronomers call it orbital resonance: it means that each planet completes an exact number of orbits while the neighboring one completes another, always maintaining the same pace. In practice, for every six revolutions of the innermost planet, the outermost one makes only oneand no one ever breaks time.
This type of balance is very rare and, above all, stable. If a system manages to maintain such an orderly resonance for billions of years, it means that, as happens in most planetary systems.
In other words, HD 110067 is a living archive of how planets form: a cosmic laboratory that tells of the calm after the primordial storm of the universe.
A cosmic jewel to study how Neptune-like planets are born
The protagonist of this story is one K-type starsmaller and colder than our Sun, but surprisingly stable. Its constant light allowed scientists to measure with extreme precision small variations in brightness which occur when planets pass in front of it (so-called “transits”).
The space telescope first discovered this celestial spectacle TESS of NASA, who noticed strange, repeated and regular “dips” in light. From there, the intuition: there could be one chain of resonances.
To confirm this, the European Space Agency has put in place CHEOPSanother orbiting observatory, which set its sights on HD 110067 at the exact times predicted by the calculations. And the magic repeated itself: the planets passed exactly when they were supposed to.
The scholars thus discovered that the six planets, called from bagreports follow 3:2 among the top three And 4:3 between the other two. Translated: a perfect gravitational symphonywhere no one misses a note.
Their sizes vary from two to three times that of Earthand make a complete revolution around the star in periods ranging from 9 to 55 days. Temperatures? From several hundred degrees up to levels that are too high to host life as we know it.
They may not be habitable worlds, but they are perfect worlds to study. Their composition, rich in hydrogen and light gasesmakes them “mini-Neptunes,” planets with puffy, transparent atmospheres that astronomers can analyze easily.
Thanks to this particular structure, HD 110067 has become one of the most interesting targets for atmospheric spectroscopy: the technique that allows us to understand what gases form the air of a planet simply by analyzing the light that filters during transits.
The planets of HD 110067 are like archives of time. Their regular arrangement tells of a past without major catastrophes: no destructive impacts, no chaotic migration, no turbulent neighbors.
A clear signal that the system formed slowly and orderly, and that since then the universe chose not to disturb him anymore.
For astronomers, it’s like finding a perfectly preserved celestial fossil. At a time when most planetary systems show signs of gravitational warfare, HD 110067 remains a rare example of balance, almost poetic in its mathematical precision.
And that’s not all: since the six planets orbit almost in the same plane, they could be there other more distant worldsstill invisible but perfectly aligned. It will be enough to wait until they too, one day, appear in front of their star.
