Astronomers have discovered three Earth-like planets orbiting in the “habitable zone” of a small and faint dwarf star, 40 light-years from Earth.
Sputnik reports:
Three exoplanets resembling Earth have been discovered orbiting an ultra-cool dwarf star dubbed TRAPPIST-1, an international group of astronomers said in the interdisciplinary scientific journal Nature on Monday.
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We may have discovered the best place to search for life beyond the Solar System!#megascience #TRAPPIST #LaSilla https://t.co/Fzqyy0ecrl
— ESO (@ESO) May 2, 2016
“We report observations of three short-period Earth-sized planets transiting an ultra-cool dwarf star only 12 parsecs away,” the report stated.
The discovered planets, located about 40 light years away, reportedly have features similar to Earth, which means they could be habitable.
The orbit of the possibly habitable exoplanet TRAPPIST-1b (via @ExoplanetApp)#Science #Astronomy pic.twitter.com/ftD0mDSUvF
— Wayne Borean (@wayneborean) May 2, 2016
Scientists sometimes call these objects ‘Goldilocks’ planets because they’re just the right distance from their host star to make life on them possible.
The three planets spotted in constellation Aquarius are also the first to be found orbiting an ultracool dwarf star, which was hard to find because it is small and faint.
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