TRAPPIST-1 Solar System Discovery

[GazzaGarratt 11,058]

Been meaning to post about this. I love space and this was a really interesting and exciting find. Where the hell is space travel?!!

Life may have evolved on at least three planets within a newly discovered solar system that is 39 light years from Earth, it was announced last night.

Astronomers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) have detected no less than seven roughly Earth-sized worlds orbiting a dwarf star in the system, it was announced today.

Scientists had previously only identified a tiny number of so-called “exoplanets”, which are believed to have the qualities needed to support life. 

However, the new system contains an unprecedented number of Earth-sized, probably rocky planets, and is being hailed as an “accelerated leap forward” in the search for extraterrestrial life.

Three of the new planets are said to be particularly promising because they could sustain oceans. Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of Nasa’s Science Mission Directorate, told a press conference in Washington: “This gives us a hint that finding a second Earth is not a matter of ‘if’, but ‘when’.”

[phil bottle 9,776]

I for one hail our new Trappist Overlords