New Data Shows TRAPPIST-1 Planets Are More Habitable Than We Ever Thought
There could be water! And air!
MICHELLE STARR 6 FEB 2018
You've probably been on the edge of your seat wondering what the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system has been up to. Now we have four new studies that have probed the planets and its star, and found that they definitely bear further investigation in our search for extraterrestrial life.
According to four international teams, planets in the star's Goldilocks zone are rocky, like Earth; probably have water; and, based on Hubble observations, are more likely to have habitable atmospheres than we previously thought.
The discovery of the TRAPPIST-1 system, hailed as our "sister solar system", was announced a year ago, and for a while there, it was the discovery on everyone's lips: seven planets orbiting an ultra-cool dwarf star 39 light-years from Earth.
It looked like a pretty good candidate for finding extraterrestrial life.
Then it was discovered that maybe those planets aren't so hospitable after all. Then researchers discovered that, wait! They might be! It's been a real rollercoaster, and one that required further investigation.
More:
http://www.sciencealert.com/trappist-1-rocky-composition-water-atmosphere-analysis-habitability
