Here is what you need to know about NASA Discovery of Exoplanet

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NASA has reportedly announced the New System of Exoplanets, which are Earth-like and potentially could hold life on them. These 7 exoplanets are located outside our solar system and orbit a star.

This new solar system is just 39 light years away from where planets are warm and rocky. This is the first time Astronomers have detected so many terrestrial planets orbiting a single star.

Here are all the points you need to know about the latest discovery of exoplanet:

1. The New found system of seven planets is named TRAPPIST-1. It has been named after the ‘Transiting planets and planetesimals small telescope’ which is located in Chile.
2. This telescope initially discovered three of the planets in this system in May 2016. Out of three, the existence of two of them was confirmed. Later on, other 5 planets were discovered by European space telescope named Spitzer.
3. The Star in TRAPPIST-1 is a total contrast to our Sun. it is classified an Ultra Cool dwarf. It has lower mass than the Sun, and low temperature too. This means that if planets are orbiting close to the dwarf sun, it is so cool that liquid water will be able to survive on these planets.
4. This ultra-cool star shines 200 times dimmer that the sun and the star glow red.
5. According to NASA’s own press statement, “If a person was standing on one of the planet’s surface, they could gaze up and potentially see geological features or clouds of neighbouring worlds, which would sometimes appear larger than the moon in Earth’s sky.”
6. The difference between earth and these stars is that they are tidally locked to the star. They do not rotate on their axis. This means that one side of the planet has the only day, and one side has only night.
7. The size of the planets is almost like earth.
8. Using the Spitzer data, NASA’s team calculated the sizes of the seven planets, and have developed the first estimates of the masses of six of them. It predicts that based on the density, the planets are rocky, though they can’t confirm the presence of water yet.
9. The seventh planet is an icy, snow world, which might remind some of Pluto in our solar system.
10. Scientists said that they still need to study the atmosphere before determining whether these planets could support some sort of life.
11. TRAPPIST-1 holds the record for the greatest number of habitable-zone planets found around a single star outside our solar system.