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Learn how the planets of Trappist-1 were discovered and about their potential for liquid water and life

Learn how the planets of Trappist-1 were discovered and about their potential for liquid water and life

Learn about the discovery of exoplanets in the TRAPPIST-1 system in this 2017 video from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The planets were discovered by scientists using the Spitzer Space Telescope and several ground-based telescopes.
JPL/NASA
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Transcript

SEAN CAREY: The big news is that around a very nearby cold, small star, we found seven rocky Earth-sized planets, all of which could potentially have liquid water.

NIKOLE LEWIS: For me, it's mind blowing. The first time I saw what the system had it, I just was like, you got to be kidding me. And I looked at the data myself. I'm like, yup, there they all are. It's just I would have never predicted this. It's beyond anything I could have ever dreamt of.

MICHAEL GILLON: I felt super excited, amazed by its existence. The very existence of the system was kind of shock.

NIKOLE LEWIS: If you were standing all these plants, you'd actually see a lot of them sort of in the sky, whipping by on these very short orbital periods.

SEAN CAREY: It is an excellent, fantastic discovery.