For long, scientists have been in search of other habitable planets that humans can live on. And seems like the wait is finally over. Scientists have discovered not one but two planets in a solar system that looks similar to our own and believe that these have the right conditions for life to flourish. About a year ago, NASA had announced the discovery of a star system called TRAPPIST-1. This star system comprised seven Earth-like planets, six of which could sustain liquid water. Further research on these planets led to the discovery that two of these could be habitable for any potential human visitors in the distant future.
Reportedly, researchers Amy Barr, Vera Dobos and Laszlo Kiss analysed all of the seven planets in a paper published to Astronomy & Astrophysics. In the paper, the researchers named the seven planets ‘b’ through ‘h’, depending upon their size from the star. Based on the analysis of the researchers, planets d and e are the most likely to be habitable. This is due to their moderate surface temperatures and modest amounts of tidal heating. In addition, their heat fluxes are low enough to avoid entering a runaway greenhouse state. Essentially, the Earth-like planets d and e are likely to have water and enough heat to harbour life, states Daily Mail.
The TRAPPIST-1 star is very old and dim, because of which the surfaces of the planets have relatively cool temperatures by planetary standards. The temperatures range from 127 C, which is cooler than Venus, to -106 C, which is colder than Earth’s poles, reveals Dr Barr from the Planetary Science Institute. ‘With the exception of TRAPPIST-1c, all seven of the planets have densities low enough to indicate the presence of significant water in some form’, researchers wrote. The orbits of these planets are eccentric instead of circular, as a result of which the tidal heating on these planets could be just like the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Scientists now hope to use new equipment like the upcoming James Webb Telescope to study the planets in more detail.
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