NASA Has Released New Images of Trappist-1's Earth-Sized Planets

nasa kepler space telescope exoplanets trappist-1 — This illustration shows the seven TRAPPIST-1 planets as they might look as viewed from Earth using a fictional, incredibly powerful telescope. The sizes and relative positions are correctly to scale: This is such a tiny planetary system that its sun, TRAPPIST-1, is not much bigger than our planet Jupiter, and all the planets are very close to the size of Earth. Their orbits all fallwell within what, in our solar system, would be the orbital distance of our innermost planet, Mercury. With such small orbits, the TRAPPIST-1 planets complete a year in a matter of a few Earth days: 1.5 for the innermost planet, TRAPPIST-1b, and 20 for the outermost, TRAPPIST-1h. This particular arrangement of planets with a double-transit reflect an actual configuration of the system during the 21 days of observations made by NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope in late 2016. The system has been revealed through observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the ground-based TRAPPIST (TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope) telescope, as well as other ground-based observatories. The system was named for the TRAPPIST telescope. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech in Pasadena. Spacecraft operations are based at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Littleton, Colorado. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive housed at Caltech/IPAC. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. *Image: NASA*

A Second Look

For those enthralled by the first images of TRAPPIST-1 system from NASA, here’s some good news: the space agency recently released even more photos. The raw images of the seven recently discovered Earth-like planets are a product of three months’ worth of snapshots taken by the Kepler telescope as part of its K2 mission.

“We were lucky that the K2 mission was able to observe TRAPPIST-1. The observing field for Campaign 12 was set when the discovery of the first planets orbiting TRAPPIST-1 was announced, and the science community had already submitted proposals for specific targets of interest in that field,” explained Michael Haas, Kepler and K2 missions science office director at NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California. “The unexpected opportunity to further study the TRAPPIST-1 system was quickly recognized and the agility of the K2 team and science community prevailed once again.”

Though the TRAPPIST-1 system’s discovery was only announced in February, Kepler started examining the system last December 15, 2016 and wrapped up their initial viewing on March 4, 2017.

*2* Here are NASA’s Latest Images of the 7 Earth-Sized Planets of TRAPPIST-1 — NASA/JPL-Caltech

Signs of Life?

“Scientists and enthusiasts around the world are invested in learning everything they can about these Earth-size worlds,” said Geert Barentsen, a K2 research scientist. “Providing the K2 raw data as quickly as possible was a priority to give investigators an early look so they could best define their follow-up research plans. We’re thrilled that this will also allow the public to witness the process of discovery.”

There’s no surprise that TRAPPIST-1 has captured our world’s fascination: three of the seven exoplanets could be orbiting in the dwarf star’s habitable zone, and on top of that, it looks like the conditions for life are present. For now, scientists have to observe more closely — and the images form Kepler are a great place to start. In the coming months, our ability to study the TRAPPIST-1 system will be greatly enhanced by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which is an infrared telescope like Kepler, but equipped with more powerful lenses and mirrors.