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Visit the Glorious Trappist-1 System

Did you tune in for NASA’s big press conference today? Get excited, it’s a habitable-zone planet! Three of them, to be more precise. Goldilocks has sisters!

After much speculation following the announcement of the announcement (it wasn’t ever going to be aliens, folks), NASA gleefully announced that the Spitzer Space Telescope has found the first known system of SEVEN Earth-sized planets orbiting a single star.

If conditions are right any of them could have water, and further observations will show whether they do. Maybe we shouldn’t be getting ready for the beach just yet, but do you know where your towel is? It’s best to be prepared.

The exoplanets, as all planets outside our own Solar System are called, are likely to be rocky based on their densities. They’re also very close together, which could make for a stunning display.

This artist’s concept allows us to imagine what it would be like to stand on the surface of the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1f, located in the TRAPPIST-1 system in the constellation Aquarius.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

A mere 39 light years away, the Trappist-1 system looks like a great travel destination. Tourism marketing has already started!

Planet hop from Trappist 1e! Voted best “hab zone” vacation within 12 parsecs of Earth. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

I don’t know about you, but I’m sold. Lets go!


For more information about Spitzer, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/spitzer

For more information on the TRAPPIST-1 system, visit: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/trappist1

For more information on exoplanets, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/exoplanets

Beth Voigt

Beth is a graphic designer in Chicago, a superhero in her own mind, and absolutely nothing on TV. She wrangles fonts professionally, pummels code amateurishly, and has been known to shove fire in her face for fun. Fond of volunteering, late-night bursts of productivity, and making snacks, she dislikes grocery shopping and sticky public transit and is only on her second smartphone. Her opinion is that you should try everything twice; if you don't like it, you were probably doing it wrong the first time around. If external links are your thing, here are links to Twitter and Instagram, and you can support her ongoing weirdness by buying her a coffee or six.

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2 Comments

  1. Beth Voigt,

    Too bad we just don’t know at the moment, just how “Earth like” these planets really are.  Right now anything thoughts that they have life, let alone liquid water on the surface may turn out to be a fantasy.  Keep in mind that people once imagined both Venus and Mars to be much more Earth like than they actually were in reality.  When we get the technology to actually visit and explore these worlds, we maybe just as disappointed.

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