This artist's concept shows Kepler-11 -- the most tightly packed planetary system yet discovered.
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.
Photo and video credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech
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