Seven Dwarfs, err, Planets

Summary: In a brand new press release from NASA, the agency has announced a discovery of seven Earth-sized planets, in the habitable-zone, around a single star. This is the largest star system with such properties and I am excited. The discovery was made by the Spitzer Space Telescope and follow up with ground based observatories.

To be fair, only three of these planets are definitely in the habitable zone, but with the right atmospheric conditions, all seven are likely to have liquid water. This exoplanet system has been called TRAPPIST-1 and the densities show that all planets are likely to be rocky planets like the inner planets of our own solar system. Unlike our sun, this star is an ultra-cool dwarf star that allows all of these planets to be closer to their star than Mercury is to our star. With all of these planets being so close, it is possible that an individual standing on the surface of one planet may be able to look up at the sky and see geological features on the neighboring planet without the aid of binoculars. We can barely do this with our own moon despite how close it is.

If you wanted to visit this system, it is relatively close to us, at only 40 light-years away in the constellation of Aquarius. But until we invent better spacecraft we can only take advantage of the nearness by turning more telescopes to the system. Hubble and Kepler are doing follow-up observations and, when it launches, the James Webb Space Telescope will collect further data.

NASA press release
360 VR of exoplanet surface
Nature

Artist's conception of the system based on known diameters, masses, and orbital distances, NASA JPL, Caltech