Researchers have found the "perfect solar system," which took shape without the violent collisions that made our system a jumble of planets of various sizes.
The system, which is 100 light-years away, has six planets, all roughly the same size. They have barely changed since their formation some 12 billion years ago.
These undisturbed conditions make it ideal for learning how these worlds formed and whether they harbor life.
The study is published in the scientific journal, Nature.
The creation of our solar system was a violent process. As the planets were forming, some collided with each other, "messing up" the orbits and leaving us with giants like Jupiter and Saturn along with relatively small worlds like our own.
In the HD110067 system, as astronomers have named it, things couldn't be more different.
Not only are the planets similar in size; far from the uncoupled timing of the orbits of the planets in our solar system, they rotate in synchrony.
In the time it takes the innermost planet to orbit the star three times, the next planet goes around twice, and so on to the fourth planet in the system. From there things change to a 4:3 pattern of relative orbital velocities for the last two planets.
This intricate planetary "choreography" is so precise that researchers have created a cyclical piece of music, similar to a Philip Glass-style composition, with notes and rhythms corresponding to each planet and their orbital periods.
Dr. Rafael Luque, of the University of Chicago, who led the research, described HD110067 as "the perfect solar system".
"It's ideal for studying how planets form because this solar system didn't have the chaotic beginnings that ours had and has been undisturbed since its formation."
Dr. Marina Lafarga-Magro, from Warwick University, described the system as beautiful and unique. "It's really exciting, just to see something that no one has seen before," she told the BBC.
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