40 light years is a long way away. We’re talking more than 200 trillion miles. But in the relative terms of our insanely large universe, it’s virtually the distance from your couch to your TV. And scientists have just discovered three Earth-like exoplanets that close in.
Researchers at Université de Liège published their discovery of the TRAPPIST-1 system (yes, like the beer) in this month’s edition of Nature. But the exciting part isn’t so much the discovery, as what finding these exoplanets means for future research.
At a distance of 40 light years, it will be much easier to analyze the system’s three exoplanets to determine their makeup and the potential for life to flourish there.
Of course, if there is life on one of the TRAPPIST exoplanets, it will likely be far different from our own. The three exoplanets orbit a star roughly the size of Jupiter that burns at about a quarter of the temperature of the Sun. And all three exoplanets are remarkably close to the star. The first two exoplanets complete a full orbit of TRAPPIST every 1.51 days and 2.42 days. However, the third one is far enough away to be considered just on the edge of the “Goldilocks zone,” the theoretical distance from a star at which life is able to thrive.
And those first two exoplanets might not be so easy to write off either. Because of their proximity to the star, they may well be tidally locked to it. This means that only one side of the exoplanet ever faces the star, potentially making life possible only in the regions near the boundary between day and night.
The researchers hope to continue their research using ever larger and more powerful telescopes. With that in mind, they’ve launched a website to keep the public up-to-date on what they learn.
(Via Motherboard)