On February 22nd 2017, researchers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope announced that they had discovered a solar system with seven Earth like exoplanets. The star system is being called TRAPIST-1 which stands for Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope. It was named after an earth based telescope in Chile, which initially discovered three of the exoplanets in May of 2016. The planets are said to be earth like because they are within the habitable zone of their star.
The seven planets of TRAPIST-1 orbit an ultra cool or red dwarf star that is located 40 light years away in the constellation Aquarius. The data from Spitzer was used to determine the sizes of each of the planets. The researchers were then able to use that data to determine the masses of six of the planets, which also led to determining their densities. All of the TRAPIST-1 planets are believed to be rocky like earth, and may possibly be rich with liquid water.
The TRAPIST-1 planets have been named for the letters of the alphabet from b to h. The orbit of the closest planet to the star is just 1.5 days, while the one farthest away takes twenty days. The planets of TRAPIST-1 orbit their star very close to each other. The inner six planets appear to orbit in sync or what is know as orbital resonance. Since these planets are in the habitable zone of their star, it's possible that some or all of them may possess an atmosphere.
Researchers intend to use the Spitzer, Hubble, and Kelper telescopes to further study the planets in an effort to determine if they are suitable for life.
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