TRAPPIST-1: Weirdest habitable worlds

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The search for life just leaped forward with a new discovery
Seven Earth-sized planets around the star Trappist-1
Only forty light-years away in the constellation Aquarius.
Could these planets have water or life?
We don’t know yet.
Here’s what we know:
The seven planets closely orbit a dim red star.
Which is one of the smallest and coolest M dwarfs known.
Scientists debate if M dwarfs are good places to look for life.
But life around a cool red star could look very different from life on Earth.
On a Trappist-1 planet the sun never rises or sets.
Half of the planet is day and half is always night.
A year lasts 1 to 20 days.
The sun would loom up to six times larger in the sky
And daylight would be red-orange.
If planets grew there, they might look red or black.
Scientists will continue to search for signs of life with future telescopes.
To follow the story, visit exoplanets.nasa.gov

TRAPPIST-1: Weirdest habitable worlds

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