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

There are seven Earth-sized planets about 40 light years away out of which three are in habitable zone, NASA said.

Washington, Feb 22: NASA on Wednesday announced about 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 is the first time that Earth-sized planets are found around the TRAPPIS-1 star," astronomers said as they made the announcement.

"This discovery could be a significant piece in the puzzle of finding habitable environments, places that are conducive to life," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

Since the newly discovered system of planets is located outside our Solar System, the 7 planets are scientifically called exoplanets. Three exoplanets are firmly located in so-called habitable zone, which means it could have liquid water, a key to life as we know it, the space organisation said. "These 7 Earth-sized planets were seen by NASA Spitzer around a nearby, ultra-cool dwarf star called TRAPPIST-1," NASA said.

Low temperatures make possible the presence of liquid water on their surface, the space agency said.

Th results were published in the journal Nature.

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