Kepler-10b, to give this planet's current name, is the latest discovery by Kepler, an American spacecraft.

ECONOMIST: Time to start giving extrasolar planets proper names

"We are starting to see a whole new type of planetary system, which is unlike anything in our own solar system, " said astronomer William Welsh at San Diego State University, who presented the Kepler findings Wednesday at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Austin, Texas.

WSJ: Galaxy Hosts 100 Billion Planets, in New Estimate

"We are starting to see a whole new type of planetary system, which is unlike anything in our own solar system, " said William Welsh, an astronomer at San Diego State University, who presented the Kepler findings Wednesday at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Austin, Texas.

WSJ: Galaxy Hosts 100 Billion Planets, in New Estimate