July 21, 2016

Atmospheres of Earth-like planets studied for the first time

This artist's impression shows an imagined view of the three planets orbiting an ultracool dwarf star just 40 light-years from Earth that were discovered using the TRAPPIST telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory. These worlds have sizes and temperatures similar to those of Venus and Earth and may be the best targets found so far for the search for life outside the Solar System. They are the first planets ever discovered around such a tiny and dim star. In this view one of the inner planets is seen in transit across the disc of its tiny and dim parent star. Astronomers used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to conduct the first atmospheric study of Earth-sized exoplanets and found evidence to suggest that two could be habitable. The planets have astronomers excited because atmospheric analysis revealed that they're likely to be rocky worlds, the type of planet necessary to host life as we know it. Planets are generally broken down into… Read More

Source: TechCrunch