Threatening to move to Canada over President Trump is out. But moving to TRAPPIST-1 is in after scientists announced the discovery Monday of three Earth-sized planets that could support life.
The three exoplanets orbit an ultracool dwarf star formally known as 2MASS J23062928-0502285 in the constellation of Aquarius, just 40 light years away from Earth.
The Jupiter-sized star, dubbed TRAPPIST-1 after the telescope used in the research, is too faint to see in the night sky with a naked eye and significantly cooler than our sun, so the planets in its orbit have temperatures similar to Earth’s, a statement from MIT said.
The three planets are also the first ever discovered orbiting such a dim star.
“They could have liquid water on the surfaces, and on Earth life is critically dependent on water. We don’t know, but maybe there could be life there,” said Michaël Gillon, who led the research at the University of Liège, told the Guardian.
The discovery, which was first published today a in the journal Nature, was first detected by scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Liège in Belgium and others.
Residents of TRAPPISTAN probably have calves the size of cantaloupes and lurk around women’s bathrooms.
We should get the ark together now, the way we’re burning through this planet we’re going to need a few spares soon.
You know it’s going to want an HBO series…
I love science.
Of course, it makes sense that Aquarians would get first dibs as pioneers to those planets. We will be benevolent rulers.