At first, even such a discovery was regarded as a major accomplishment yet the constant advancement and refinement of the available astronomical instrumentation and of the various detection techniques used have resulted in the discovery of thousands of extrasolar worlds during the last two decades, which have established that planetary formation is a common occurrence in the galaxy. (2015), The Astrophysical JournalĮxoplanetary research has advanced tremendously, ever since the discovery of the first exoplanet more than 20 years ago. The smaller star at the right, consists of a pair of dimmer K-type red dwarfs which orbit Kepler-444. An image of the star Kepler-444 (at left), taken with the NIRC2 near-infrared adaptive optics system, which is mounted on the 10-m Keck II telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Now, the discovery by an international team of astronomers of yet another ancient planetary system that dates back to the dawn of the Milky Way galaxy comes to give more credence to this concept, by raising the odds for the possible existence of primordial life in the early epochs of cosmic evolution, just a couple billion years after the formation of the Universe. In his seminal short story “The Sentinel,” legendary British science fiction author Arthur Clarke imagined the existence of ancient extraterrestrial civilisations against the backdrop of cosmic time, which constituted the first forms of intelligent life, early in the history of the Universe. Theirs must have been a loneliness we cannot imagine: the loneliness of gods looking out across Infinity and finding none to share their thoughts.” Think of such civilizations, far back against the fading afterglow of Creation, masters of a Universe so young that life had come to only a handful of worlds. Other races on the worlds of other Suns must have scaled and passed the heights that we have “Nearly a hundred thousand million stars are turning in the circle of the Milky Way, and long ago Image Credit: Tiago Campante/Peter Devine/University of Birmingham Astroseismic studies of the star’s oscillations, allowed astronomers to determine that it is the oldest planetary system discovered to date, with an age of approximately 11 billion years. But if this is the case, that ratio must be notably different than Earth's: The TRAPPIST-1 planets are about 8% less dense than they would be if they had the same makeup as our home planet.Artist’s concept of the recently discovered, tightly packed, and ancient exoplanetary system named Kepler-444. That could mean they all contain about the same ratio of materials thought to compose most rocky planets, like iron, oxygen, magnesium, and silicon. They are likely made of similar stuff, but they are different than Earth. The study pinned down the density of each planet more precisely, making TRAPPIST-1 the most thoroughly known planetary system apart from our own.Ī 2021 study revealed more about TRAPPIST-1 planets. In February 2018, closer study of the seven planets suggested that some could harbor far more water than the oceans of Earth, in the form of atmospheric water vapor for the planets closest to their star, liquid water for others, and ice for those farthest away. There is the possibility that future study of this unique planetary system could reveal conditions suitable for life. This system of seven rocky worlds–all of them with the potential for water on their surface – is an exciting discovery in the search for life on other worlds. In a press release on February 22, 2017, NASA announced the discovery of the most Earth-sized planets found in the habitable zone of a single star, called TRAPPIST-1. We've looked at the seven rocky exoplanets orbiting the TRAPPIST-1 star with ground and space telescopes like Spitzer, Kepler, Hubble, and, soon, the James Webb Space Telescope. The most studied planetary system, aside from our own solar system, lies about 40 light-years away.
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