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Earth-like planets: Could we find aliens in 10 years?

Read all about the discovery outside our solar system

By Oneindia Staff Writer

| Updated: Thursday, February 23, 2017, 11:06 [IST]

American space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration on Wednesday announced the findings on planets orbiting stars other than our Sun and said, "There are seven Earth-sized planets about 40 light years away out of which three are firmly located in habitable zone."

This artist's concept shows what each of the TRAPPIST-1 planets may look like, based on available data about their sizes, masses and orbital distances. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

"This is the first time that Earth-sized planets are found around the TRAPPIS-1 star," it said.

[NASA finds 7 Earth-sized planets, 3 of them habitable]

TRAPPIST-1 was named for The Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope (TRAPPIST) in Chile. In May 2016, researchers using TRAPPIST announced they had discovered three planets in the system. Assisted by several ground-based telescopes, including the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope confirmed the existence of two of these planets and discovered five additional ones, increasing the number of known planets in the system to seven.

A comparison of the TRAPPIST-1 system to our solar system. The close orbits of the TRAPPIST-1 planets are reminiscent of Jupiter and its system of orbiting moons. Image courtesy: NASA

[People go bonkers after NASA finds 7 Earth-sized planets!]

The discovery sets a new record for greatest number of habitable-zone planets found around a single star outside our solar system, according to NASA.

All these seven planets could have liquid water, but chances are very hi with the three in the habitable zone.
At about 40 light-years (235 trillion miles) from Earth, the system of planets is relatively close to us.
All of the TRAPPIST-1 planets are likely to be rocky.
TRAPPIST-1 star -- classified as an ultra-cool dwarf -- is so cool that liquid water could survive on planets orbiting very close to it, closer than is possible on planets in our solar system.
The planets may also be tidally locked to their star, which means the same side of the planet is always facing the star, therefore each side is either perpetual day or night.
They may have weather patterns totally unlike those on Earth, such as strong winds blowing from the day side to the night side, and extreme temperature changes.

Fun fact: It would take about 7,00,000 years to travel that distance by the fastest spacecraft (Voyager 1).