Seven Earth-like planets have been found orbiting a sun not too far — in space terms, at least — from our own.
NASA announced
Wednesday that the planets resemble Earth in composition and spacing
from their star, which means their conditions might be favorable to
liquid water and life, Time reported.
“The planets form a very compact system,” Michaël Gillon of
Belgium’s University of Liège, said in a
teleconference, according to Time. “They are very close to their
star and are reminiscent of the system of moons that orbit Jupiter. They
could have liquid water and life.”
Astronomers studied the star, Trappist-1 — which, at 39
light years away from Earth, is considered a relative neighbor — for six
years, using telescopes located all over the world, plus the Spitzer
Space Telescope. Read more (2/22/17 2:04 PM)