Seven rocky worlds orbit a tiny star just 40 light-years away
In short: Located in the constellation Aquarius, the TRAPPIST-1 system contains seven Earth-sized planets. Several of these planets occupy the star's habitable zone; by orbiting at suitable distances, they might host liquid water, making them ideal for hunting alien life.
The TRAPPIST-1 system is composed of seven terrestrial planets orbiting an ultra-cool dwarf star. This star, originally identified in 1999 as 2MASS J23062928-0502285, is remarkably faint, outputting only 0.05 percent of the energy produced by our Sun. Because of this low luminosity, even planets with short orbital periods, such as TRAPPIST-1h—which orbits every 19 days—receive significantly less heat than Mercury, which has an 88-day orbit.
Astronomers discovered the system using the Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope (TRAPPIST), a project involving the University of Liège and the Geneva Observatory. Initial observations in May 2016 identified three planets, but follow-up studies using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope in 2017 revealed four additional rocky worlds. These planets range in size from approximately the scale of Mars to slightly larger than Earth.
The system's potential for life is a major focus for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which can probe these planets' atmospheres. While Hubble observations suggested that planets TRAPPIST-1b and c likely lack hydrogen-dominated atmospheres, the presence of other atmospheres remains a key question. With an estimated age of 5.4 to 9.8 billion years, this star is nearly double the age of our solar system.
The discovery of these temperate, rocky planets around a low-mass M-dwarf has reshaped exoplanet science. It proves that these faint, small stars are among the best candidates for finding habitable environments beyond our own solar system.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: TRAPPIST-1 - 7 Terrestrial Planets, One Tiny Star
- Also: TRAPPIST-1: System with 7 Earth-Size Exoplanets
- Also: 10 Things: All About TRAPPIST-1 - NASA Science
- Also: www.nature.com — The discovery of TRAPPIST-1 and the importance of low-mass M-dwarfs - Nature Astronomy
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