This artist's concept shows four of the five planets that orbit 55 Cancri,
a star much like our own. The most recently discovered planet, and the
fourth out from the star, looms large in the foreground. It is at least 45
times the mass of Earth, or half the mass of Saturn, and it orbits the
star every 260 days. The system's three known inner planets can be seen in
the background around the glowing star, while its most distant planet is
not pictured. Fifty-five Cancri has produced a larger number of massive
planets than our solar system.
The colors of the planets in this illustration were chosen to resemble
those of our own solar system. Astronomers do not know what the planets
look like.
