TRAPPIST-1 exoplanets confirm their similarity with the planets of the solar system

2018/02/05 Agirre Ruiz de Arkaute, Aitziber - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astronomia

Last year was known the existence of seven planets around the cool red dwarf star TRAPPIST-1, some of which could be inhabitable. After a year of research, new results have been published: most of the seven planets are rocky and have water. Specifically, water represents 5% of its mass, much more than in the case of the Earth itself (the oceans are only 0.02% of the mass of our planet). According to the researchers, the new results show that the trappist-1 planets are similar in many ways to the planets of the solar system.

The seven exoplanets seem temperate, so everyone could have geological and atmospheric conditions that would allow water to remain in its liquid form. From now on they will try to clarify which of the planets is the one that has the most possibilities of being habitable. For the moment, the planet trappist-1e seems to be the planet more like the Earth of the seven, but it is about to unveil how its surface is and if it has atmosphere.

 

Previous news about the TRAPPIST-1 system:

-> Three inhabitable planets have been found near the Sun

-> Seven planets have been found around a dwarf red star