NASA has just discovered two new solar systems, one of which has three Earth-sized planets and is very hot.
Both of these solar systems are centered on red dwarfs, a type of star that is small and has a much lower temperature than the Sun. The planets orbiting them are closer than the distance between the Sun and Earth, promising a warm climate. However, scientists are concerned that they are too hot, which means they are too hot for the development of Earth-like life forms.
The first solar system is about 160 million light years from us, has three planets with a mass equal to 1.4 times, 0.9 times, and 1.3 times the mass of the Earth, with a length of year equal to 5.24; 7.78 and 10.1 days on Earth. The temperature of the central dwarf is estimated at 3,177 degrees Celsius, 1.5 times lower than the temperature of the Sun.
The second solar system is centered around a red dwarf star at 3,526 degrees Celsius, with two “super-earths” in orbit. The first super-earth is twice as heavy as ours, 6 days a year on Earth.
The second planet is five times heavier than Earth and takes 20 days to circle the central star. In terms of distance from the central star, the viability of life in this solar system is much lower than that of the early solar system.
The researchers plan to examine the atmospheres of the aforementioned planets. Although they may be too hot to develop known life forms, it is completely unknown whether there are other life forms in the vast universe, adapted to very different conditions. Part of the reasons scientists are excited to learn is that the Earth’s similar size often “adds dots” to the planet’s chance of becoming the Promised Land.
Currently, NASA has not officially released an image of these two solar systems.
The planets above were discovered using NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope. In 2009, the telescope also helped scientists observe a solar system closer to Earth, the solar system orbiting the red dwarf TRAPPIST-1, in the constellation Aquarius.
This solar system contains 7 Earth-sized planets, 3 of which have been identified as living in habitable areas.
