Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
AN INTERNATIONAL TEAM of scientists said today they had discovered a trio of Earth-like planets that are the best bet so far for finding life outside our solar system.
The three orbit an ultracool dwarf star a mere 39 light years away, and are likely comparable in size and temperature to Earth and Venus, they reported in a study published in Nature.
“This is the first opportunity to find chemical traces of life outside our solar system,” said lead author Michael Gillon, an astrophysicist at the University of Liege in Belgium.
All three planets had the “winning combination” of being similar in size to Earth, “potentially habitable” and close enough so their atmospheres can be analysed with current technology, he told AFP.
The find opens up a whole new “hunting ground” for habitable planets, he added.
Gillon and colleagues calibrated a 60-centimetre (23.5-inch) telescope in Chile, known as TRAPPIST, to track several dozen dwarf stars neither big nor hot enough to be visible with optical telescopes.
They zeroed in on a particularly promising one – now known as TRAPPIST-1 – about one eighth the size of the Sun, and significantly cooler.
Observing it for months, the astronomers noticed that its infrared signal faded slightly at regular intervals, evidence of objects in orbit.
Further analysis confirmed they were “exoplanets” - planets revolving around stars outside our solar system.
The innermost two circle their dwarf star every 1.5 and 2.4 days, though they are hit with only four and two times the amount of heat-generating radiation that Earth receives from the Sun.
The more distant orbit of the third planet takes between four and 73 days, according to the study.
Co-author Emmanuel Jehin, also from the University of Liege, said:
So far, the existence of such ‘red worlds’ orbiting ultra-cool dwarf stars was purely theoretical, but now we have not just one lonely planet but three.
He called the discovery a “paradigm shift” in the search for life elsewhere in the universe.
Given their size and proximity to their low-intensity star, all three planets may have regions at temperatures within a range suitable for sustaining liquid water and life, the study concluded.
Their proximity to Earth means scientists will be able to find out a lot more.
“These planets are so close, and their star so small, we can study their atmosphere and composition,” said co-author Julien de Wit, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT.)
“This is a jackpot for the field,” he said in a statement, adding that it should be possible to determine if they harbour life “within our generation”.
Up to now, the search for Earth-like orbs in our Galaxy and beyond centred on stars like our Sun, more massive and hotter than the dwarf around which the newly-discovered worlds orbit.
But the discovery suggests that a significant fraction of ultracool dwarfs hold potentially habitable planets in their gravitational sway.
“At the scale of the Galaxy, this means billions of additional places where life might have developed,” Gillon said.
The mass of the three planets circling TRAPPIST-1 cannot be less than 50% of that of Earth, and are probably not more than double, he added.
They could be richer or poorer in water and rocks than our planet, and if they have an atmosphere, it is probably very different that ours.
To give rise to life as we know it, planets have to be in a “Goldilocks zone” in relation to their star, far enough away so that its heat doesn’t evaporate all the water, but close enough so that it can exist in liquid form.
Building and using the TRAPPIST infrared telescope to hunt for planets was a risky strategy.
“It’s not looking at 100,000 stars at a time, like the Kepler Space Telescope,” de Wit said.
It is few of them that you’re spending time on, one at a time. And one paid off.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Someone with an invisible passport
@Radovan Karadzic: brilliant
@Radovan Karadzic: clown
@Radovan Karadzic: on a flight from Abu Dhabi? Unlikely.
@Radovan Karadzic: If you would have spent 60 seconds on Google you would have known that a lot of international flights stop in Abu Dhabi.
Most (all?) Ireland to Australia flights do so.
I’m not Irish and according to your name, you’re not either, most likely from Serbia.
Bold comment from someone (potentially) coming from a country which is for 10 years in the EU?
@Wolfgang Bonow: he has multiple accounts. He is unfortunately irish.
@brian madden: This wouldn’t surprise me. Posting BS under one account and complaining under another why comments are closed.
It’s like in Kindergarten.
@brian madden: Quite unfortunate tbf!!
@Wolfgang Bonow: If they are given a pass by all the reasonable who could possibly counter their BS and get comments closed, why wouldn’t they, they see it as a win coz they force folks to treat them in a way they can then lament, the right wing playbook!
Will they please lock down the country ASAP just like they did for the runny nose pandemic
@Mr G Pickett: It’s funny that you think you’re funny ngl! I am amused!
@Mr G Pickett: we don’t have to because thankfully the vast majority of us are vaccinated against measles. A very effective vaccine against a highly contagious and dangerous disease. Unfortunately a few hippies and WEF-obsessed clowns refuse to get vaccinated, hence why the measles spike.
Surely the airline would have a list of passengers
@Tom Mc Donnell: Yes, but with GDPR, the airline may need to contact each passenger individually to get their consent before releasing their information
@Cathy Cagney: Only the one plane tho. Few mins a call….a day of work for a few people??
I’m just hoping no one with Ebola Virus turns up at Dublin Airport!
@Brian Hunt: High lethality rate, but not very contagious.
@Brian Hunt: the good thing about Ebola is symptoms appear quickly and in most cases severely. Easy to spot and contain. There are probably worse viruses out there that we haven’t come across yet.
@Brian Hunt: Or are you just fear-mongering? Hard to know!
@Chutes: Then try harder!
@Brian Hunt: At what exactly? Knowing? Sure though if I’m honest, hard to know where to begin trying to understand such fkwittery ngl. I’ll try tho just for you!
@Chutes: I couldn’t care less about you think, you’re just another virtue signalling member of the Holier-Than-Thou Brigade!
Wasn’t that long ago we couldn’t get into Tesco without a muzzle and a green light.
The good ole days.
@Gerard Carey: Ah yes good times…at one stage to go for a drink you had to show U were vaccinated…show ID..Give your address & phone number and then be told to be out by 8…Good times indeed, brilliantly handled.
Funny how no goverment on this old blue planet had a plan in place for such an event…not like we didn’t have scares like, Bird flu, Sars….mad cow disease… ebola…Hmmmm…some might say our world governments were a wee bit negligent .
@Gerard Carey: A muzzle? Isn’t that hyperbole at its finest!
@Diarmuid Hunt: Hyperbole at its finest, indeed.
@Gerard Carey: Be honest, did ya have to look up ‘hyperbole’ before you replied? ;)
No wonder the comments section is closed on most articles with all the alt-right conspiracy nutters posting on here.
@alan wallace: you could say the same for “offended by everything” left.
@alan wallace: Utter lunatics
@alan wallace: you say conspiracy nutters, guess thats the easiest way for you to label people who asked questions that needed to & still need to be asked about the fiasco that was the handling of Covid.
@alan wallace: Until folks are willing to take them on it will continue, it’s the same as complaining about governance, until you stand they will continue to fk you!
As the Irish love to say, ‘beatings will continue until morale improves’. They will for as long as you are willing to accept the beatings. Maybe the English made us so willing to accept our lot over the many generations, who knows eh?
Until reasonable folks come together, those that would divide us will continue to stupidly easily because they are motivated, organised and together in their efforts. It’s remarkably simple to stop them but it takes collective action.
At least you’ve noticed. Now all you need is the next single step, whatever that may be to you, doesn’t need to be here but you know you need to do something, clearly evidenced by your comment. There are many more who would join you in whatever form your resistance may take. There is so much to resist these days. Try here, try somewhere!
@damien leen: Who exactly have you personally asked questions of and I don’t mean someone down the pub after hours?
@James Reardon: the ‘offended by everything left’ jibe doesn’t exactly ring true when it mostly used by people who would protest against the opening of an envelope if they had nothing left to rail against.
@Setanta O’Toole: @James Reardon clearly has difficulties with the concept of truth! Stop picking on him like the radical leftie you are, it’s no wonder all those strong men are so afraid kappa!
How about isolating sick people instead of allowing them in schools, work and travelling?
@Lisa O’Connor: Unfortunately some diseases, like measles, the symptoms aren’t always obvious while the person is still contagious. The rash (most commonly known & recognised symptom) can appear 7 days after a person becomes infectious. So it’s hard to lock anyone down when they don’t have any symptoms.
Is there anything to be said for another lock down?
What’s the difference between Dubai and Abu Dhabi?
The people in Dubai don’t like the Flintstones, but the people in Abu Dhabi do.
I know, I know, sorry!
@Steve: lol, at least ur sorry! :)
Sunday was 10th March.
Was Sunday not the 10th March??
That’s my joke, must be a Steve thing….
have your say