“Other planet systems in the Universe seem to be much like our Solar System,” Lineweaver says.

“The more we find out about these planet systems the more it seems the Solar System is unexceptional.”

Linewaver says the Kepler space telescope used detected more than 4000 planets orbiting 3200 stars. The majority of these host stars have only one detected planet, while 656 have multiple planets.

The lead author of the paper, PhD student Tim Bovaird says: “The wealth of the Kepler planet data allows for the first time detailed studies of planet systems outside the Solar System.”

“We are now able to ask and answer questions like, how common are planet systems like our own?”

Simulations of these planet systems had previously only matched the observed data by assuming a Kepler Dichotomy, an assumption that there are two types of star: one type with only one planet, and another type with multiple planets.

“Simulations with flared planet systems were slightly easier to perform and that is what researchers had assumed,” Bovaird says.

“But this is an odd assumption because the inner part of our Solar System is flat, not flared. When we dropped the assumption that planet systems are flared, simulations naturally matched the observed data without using the Kepler Dichotomy.”

Dr Lineweaver says the team’s result should demote the Kepler Dichotomy and allow more realistic interpretations of new planet systems.

The research paper will be published in “The Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society”.