NASA has made an incredible discovery as the agency found a series of exoplanets similar to Earth.
Astronomers found a star that is about 40 light-years away, which is similar to the sun due to the fact that it has multiple planets orbiting it. In fact, seven exoplanets are orbiting the star, and they appear to be very similar to Earth.
The space agency noted that these planets are similar in size to Earth, while also being at a distance from the star which means that they could be temperate. NASA clarifies that these planets are not too cold and not too hot, which means they could have water and life in them.
The lead study author and astronomer of the discovery – which was published in the journal Nature – noted that this is the first time so many planets of this kind have been found surrounding the same star.
The star itself is a dwarf star that is very cool in temperature and it is codenamed TRAPPIST-1. Preliminary data from NASA suggests that the exoplanets are being rocky planets, and they are in the habitable zone of the star, which is known as TRAPPIST-1e, f and g.
The planet TRAPPIST-1f is the one that has the most potential of possibly supporting life. It is slightly cooler than Earth, but the right combination of greenhouse gases and atmosphere could make it habitable.
The seven exoplanets are five times closer to each other from end to end as the distance from Mercury to our sun. This may seem like the planets should be hotter, but the size of the star compared to the planets is smaller than the size of the sun compared to our solar system.
