An extraordinary solar system of seven Earth-sized planets orbiting a dwarf star could include at least three worlds on which life may have evolved, scientists believe.
The cool dim star, known as TRAPPIST-1, can be considered a close neighbour since it is only 39 light years away.
Six of its “exoplanets” lie in a temperate zone where surface temperatures range from zero to 100C. Of these, at least three are thought to be capable of having watery oceans, greatly increasing the likelihood of life.
No other star system known contains such a large number of Earth-sized and probably rocky planets.
Take a 360° tour of TRAPPIST-1d, one of the Earth-sized plants in the newly discovered system ~40 light-years away: https://t.co/5mMKpRPcoc pic.twitter.com/RRuPiOleOe
— NASA (@NASA) February 22, 2017
All are about the same size as Earth or Venus, or slightly smaller. Because the parent star is so dim, the planets are warmed gently despite having orbits much smaller than that of Mercury, the planet closest to the sun.
The discovery, reported in the journal Nature, was made by astronomers using the American space agency Nasa’s exoplanet-hunting Spitzer Space Telescope.
Seven Earth-sized exoplanets have been discovered orbiting a nearby star #TRAPPIST1 https://t.co/8QDddfmkaF pic.twitter.com/M9XSuWMFXb
— nature (@nature) February 22, 2017
Dr Sean Carey, who heads Nasa’s Spitzer Science Center in Pasadena, California, said: “This is the most exciting result I have seen in the 14 years of Spitzer operations.”
The telescope operates at the infrared wavelengths which glow brightest from TRAPPIST-1, and can detect the tiny dimming that occurs when a passing or “transiting” planet blocks out light from its star.
Spitzer’s data allowed the team to measure precisely the sizes of the seven planets and estimate the masses and densities of six of them.
Follow-up observations were made by a number of ground-based telescopes, including a robotic instrument operated by Liverpool John Moores University on La Palma in the Canary Islands.
Seven Earth-sized planets just 40 light-years away discovered with the aid of @LJMU_Astro's Liverpool Telescope https://t.co/kIVZc58Vtv pic.twitter.com/Px9aOWE4Q1
— Liverpool John Moores University (@LJMU) February 22, 2017
Dr Chris Copperwheat, leading the British team, said: “The discovery of multiple rocky planets with surface temperatures which allow for liquid water make this amazing system an exciting future target in the search for life.”
TRAPPIST-1 is a small star with 8% the mass of the sun and only slightly bigger than the planet Jupiter.
Astronomers expect such dim red dwarf stars, which are abundant in our galaxy, the Milky Way, to host many Earth-sized planets in close orbits, making them promising targets in the search for extraterrestrial life.
The seven-planet star takes its name from the TRAPPIST robotic telescope at the European Southern Observatory, La Silla, Chile which found the first evidence of three of its worlds, reported in May last year.
These 7 Earth-sized planets were seen by @NASASpitzer around a nearby, ultra-cool dwarf star called TRAPPIST-1: https://t.co/G9tW3cJMnV pic.twitter.com/Z6gvaH96Tz
— NASA (@NASA) February 22, 2017
Three of the planets, classified as TRAPPIST-1 e, f and g, were found to be firmly placed in the “habitable” or “Goldilocks” orbital zone where temperatures are not too hot or cold to permit surface oceans of liquid water.
Because the planets are so close to their star, they may be tidally locked, meaning they always face the star from the same side.
As a result they may have weather patterns totally unlike those on Earth, such as strong winds blowing from the day side to the night side, and extreme temperature changes.
PA