NASA announces 7 'earthlike' planets at nearby star
TECH & SCI
By Rich Murphy

2017-02-23 03:53:33

NASA has announced the discovery of the seven Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone of nearby star, called TRAPPIST-1. This collection appear to have potential for water and advances the prospect of finding life on planets outside our solar system.
At 39 light years away in the constellation Aquarius, TRAPPIST-1 star is a nearby neighbor by cosmic standards. It is roughly the size of our planet Jupiter. The newly discovered planets circle tightly their sun in the so-called habitable zone, where water and, possibly life, might exist. The others are right on the doorstep.
The discovery was made by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, with assistance from several ground-based telescopes, including the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope.
“This discovery could be a significant piece in the puzzle of finding habitable environments, places that are conducive to life,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “Answering the question ‘are we alone’ is a top science priority and finding so many planets like these for the first time in the habitable zone is a remarkable step forward toward that goal.”
TRAPPIST-1 is classified as an "ultra-cool dwarf," which means its temperatures are low enough that water can exist on planets that orbit very close to it. All of the TRAPPIST-1 planets are closer to their sun than Mercury is to our ours.
The planets, currently labeled TRAPPIST-1a thru 1g, may also be in a tidal orbit, which means one side is always facing the sun. This orbit is similar to how Earth's moon always faces us on one side. This tidal orbit implies that, while life may be sustained on these planets, the weather patterns from one side to the other would be completely unlike anything previously seen.
The Spitzer, an infrared telescope that follows Earth, was well-suited for studying TRAPPIST-1 because the star glows brightest in infrared light.
As a part of their presentation on Wednesday, NASA also released artist rendered video of what the surface of these planets may look like.

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