Washington File, July 4, 2003

An international team of scientists has discovered a planetary system consisting of a star similar to the Sun that is orbited by a gas-giant planet larger but very similar to the planet Jupiter, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced on July 3.

Scientists, using the Anglo-Australian Telescope in Siding Spring, Australia, made precise calculations of light spectra from a star identified as HD 70642, revealing a barely detectable "wobble" that indicates the presence of a planet about twice the size of Jupiter.

"The planet, a gas giant, is right where it should be if the solar system evolved like ours, suggesting that other planets may be found nearby and that the system could potentially harbor life," according to the NSF press release.

"The NSF-sponsored Anglo-Australian Planet Search is the only southern hemisphere planet search capable of detecting solar system analogs with large planets similar to our own Jupiter and Saturn," said team member Chris McCarthy of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. "The discovery of planets orbiting other stars allows us to put our own Earth and solar system in a bigger context, a galactic context, for the first time."

Following is the text of a July 3 press release from the National

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