These seven exoplanets could mean seven chances of life!
Life may have evolved on at least three out of seven planets within a newly discovered solar system that is roughly 40 light years from Earth,
A huddle of seven planets, all close in size to Earth, and perhaps warm enough for water and the life it can sustain, has been spotted around a small, faint star in the constellation of Aquarius 40 lightyears away. It was announced just this week at a press conference at NASA and published in the journal Nature.
This discovery of the planets outside of our solar system (exoplanets) is rare because the planets have the winning combination of being similar in size to Earth and being all temperate, meaning they could have water on their surfaces and potentially support life.
It is also the first time that so many Earth-sized planets have been found in orbit around the same star, an unexpected haul that suggests the Milky Way may be teeming with worlds that, in size and firmness resemble our own!
The discovered planets orbit a dwarf star named Trappist-1. The star is marginally larger than Jupiter, it shines with a feeble light about 2,000 times fainter than our sun. Three planets are in the habitable zone of the star, meaning it could sustain life if it has the right balance of greenhouse gases.
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