ORONO, Maine — The blockbuster discovery of seven “earth-like” planets — including some that may have liquid water and the potential for extraterrestrial life — set off a firestorm of excitement among astronomers across the globe on Wednesday.
“This is a major announcement,” Shawn Laatsch, director of the Emera Astronomy Center and Jordan Planetarium at the University of Maine, said Wednesday afternoon, a few minutes after NASA released the news. “It’s rare to find earth-sized planets but it’s especially rare to find several of them orbiting the same star not terribly far away.”
At the University of Maine, Laatsch on Wednesday incorporated the new discovery into the Jordan Planetarium’s show, and he is planning future programming to feature the new system. The system can’t be seen with the naked eye, but the planetarium show will allow viewers to zoom in to get a closer glimpse of what it might look like. The presentations will feature special images NASA released to planetariums in the wake of the announcement.
The planets, part of the Trappist-1 group, orbit a dwarf star in the Aquarius system, about 40 light years from earth. All seven of the planets could have some form of water, but the fourth, fifth and sixth planets from the star likely have liquid water. With water and the right climate conditions comes a “very good possibility of life,” Laasch said.
The find is extremely rare. About 3,500 exoplanets have been discovered, but only about two dozen are likely to have liquid water and potentially habitable conditions, according to NASA.
“Most of the exoplanets we discover are like hot Jupiters,” huge, gaseous planets, that aren’t hospitable to life, Laatsch said.
Humans can’t expect to get close to or visit the planets anytime soon. It would take about 40 years to reach Trappist 1 if we had any craft capable of lightspeed travel. But with existing technology it would take hundreds of thousands of years to reach the planets, Laatsch said.
Observatories across the globe are likely to continue turning their telescopes toward Trappist-1 to continuing trying to learn more about the planets over the coming years.
“It’s at least exciting to know these places exist,” Laatsch said.
Follow Nick McCrea on Twitter at @nmccrea213.