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In this NASA digital illustration handout released on February 22, 2017, seven TRAPPIST-1 planets are shown as they might be seen as seen from Earth using an incredibly powerful fictional telescope./ In this handout provided by the National Aeronautics Administration and Space Administration (NASA ), astronomer Nikole Lewis of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore presents research results during a briefing on the TRAPPIST-1 planets on February 22, 2017 at NASA Headquarters in Washington , DC. The researchers revealed the first known system of seven Earth-size planets around a single star called TRAPPIST-1.
The NASA announced a monumental discovery on this day in history. On February 22, 2017, NASA revealed that the Spitzer Space Telescope detected “the first known system of seven Earth-size planets around a single star,” known as TRAPPIST-1. Three of the seven planets are “firmly located” in the habitable zone, where the planets were most likely to have liquid water.
Further investigation revealed additional exciting discoveries. NASA is organizing a talk with experts for the anniversary of the discovery at 2:00 pm February 22, 2022.
This is what you need to know:
TRAPPIST-1 is 40 light-years from Earth and scientists said all seven planets could have liquid water
GettyIn this NASA digital illustration handout released on February 22, 2017, an artist’s concept allows us to imagine what it would be like to stand on the surface of the TRAPPIST-1f exoplanet, located in the TRAPPIST-1 system in the constellation Aquarius. Because this planet is thought to be tidally locked to its star, meaning the same face of the planet always points to the star, there would be a region called the terminator that perpetually divides day and night. If the nightside is icy, the dayside could give way to liquid water in the area where starlight reaches the surface.
NASA Exoplanet Discovery, detailed in a press release on February 22, 2017, set a new record for the most planets in habitable zones around a star. NASA explained that all seven planets could have liquid water, but the probability was higher around the three planets in the habitable zone, where the distance to the star and its temperatures increase the possibility of the presence of water.
“This discovery could be an important piece in the puzzle of finding habitable environments, places conducive to life,” Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, said in the news release. “Answering the question ‘Are we alone?’ is a top scientific priority and finding as many planets like these for the first time in the habitable zone is a remarkable step forward towards that goal.”
The exoplanet system was named after a telescope in Chile, the Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope (TRAPPIST).
“The Seven Wonders of TRAPPIST-1 are the first Earth-size planets to have been found orbiting this type of star,” said Michael Gillon, principal investigator of the TRAPPIST Exoplanet Study at the University of Liege, Belgium, in the statement. of press. . “It’s also the best target yet for studying the atmospheres of potentially habitable Earth-size worlds.”
Researchers announced new discoveries about TRAPPIST-1 in November 2021 that further explore how life might form on distant planets.
Scientists created scientific models to study the bombardment of the planets in TRAPPIST-1, or the amount of impact the planets experienced after they formed. according to a Rice University press release dated November 2021. Bombardment is one of the elements to help determine whether a planet may have been suitable for life.
“After rocky planets form, things crash into them,” said astrophysicist Sean Raymond of the University of Bordeaux in France, according to the press release. “It’s called bombardment, or late accumulation, and we’re concerned, in part, because these impacts can be a major source of water and life-supporting volatiles.”
The planets are in almost perfect harmony, the scientists found, and they created models to determine how much bombardment they could have withstood and still remain in harmony.
“We can’t say exactly how many things hit any one of these planets, but because of this special resonant configuration, we can put an upper limit on it. We can say: ‘It could not have been more than this’. And it turns out that upper limit is actually quite small,” said Raymond. “We found that after these planets formed, they weren’t bombarded by more than a very small amount of stuff,” he said. “That’s great. It’s interesting information when we think about other aspects of the planets in the system.”
This is the original version of Heavy.com
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