NASA has discovered seven planets with Earth-like qualities orbiting a nearby star making them among the strongest candidates in the continued search for..
NASA has discovered seven planets with Earth-like qualities orbiting a nearby star making them among the strongest candidates in the continued search for extraterrestrial life among known exoplanets, or planets that exist outside of our own solar system.
These new planets all inhabit another solar system which includes seven planets that have a relatively warm climate, as well as rocky terrain, both of which are promising signs in terms of identifying starting points for the search for both water and life. The planets all orbit TRAPPIST-1, a so-called ‘ultracool dwarf’ star, which unfortunately does not mean that it shares characteristics with Gimli from the Lord of the Rings.
Instead, the TRAPPIST-1 star is just a tenth the size of our own sun, and only gives off around a quarter of the radiant heat. The planets are far nearer the sun, too: the one closest in has a ‘year’ (the time it takes it to orbit the star) of a little over one day, and the one the furthest out completes its own annual cycle in only 20 days.
