In a press release on February 22, 2017, NASA announced the discovery of the most Earth-sized planets found in the habitable zone of a single star, called TRAPPIST-1. This system of seven rocky worlds–all of them with the potential for water on their surface–is an exciting discovery in the search for life on other worlds. There is the possibility that future study of this unique planetary system could reveal conditions suitable for life.
In February 2018, closer study of the seven planets suggested that some could harbor far more water than the oceans of Earth, in the form of atmospheric water vapor for the planets closest to their star, liquid water for others, and ice for those farthest away. The new study pinned down the density of each planet more precisely, making TRAPPIST-1 the most thoroughly known planetary system apart from our own.
Exoplanet surface in 360 VR
An artist's illustration of TRAPPIST-1d takes you to the surface of the third planet from the red TRAPPIST-1 star. From here, the star looms larger than our sun and its light casts a red glow across the sky. Look up, and you may catch a glimpse of its six sister planets, as visible as our moon is from Earth. View on YouTube
Planet hop from TRAPPIST-1e
Take a trip with the Exoplanet Travel Bureau to the fourth planet in the TRAPPIST-1 system, TRAPPIST-1e, a world swimming in water in perpetual twilight. Its sister planets gracefully light up the sky, promising another adventure just a hop away.
Download your own free poster
Interact with the TRAPPIST-1 system in 3D
You can fly through the TRAPPIST-1 planets and see an artist's concept of the surfaces on your phone or with a desktop app. Compare each planet to Earth or Jupiter, compare the TRAPPIST-1 system to our solar system, and see how far the habitable zone extends.
With the touch of a screen or the click of a mouse, you can visit the newly discovered TRAPPIST-1 system in the our exoplanet atlas. The New Worlds Atlas contains every exoplanet discovery, powered by NASA's Exoplanet Archive, the official database used by professional astronomers engaged in exploring new worlds.
Get set for launch. Download “Eyes on Exoplanets” and it will fly you to any planet you wish—as long as it's far beyond our solar system. This fully rendered 3D universe is scientifically accurate, allowing you to zoom in for a close look at more than 1,000 exotic planets known to orbit distant stars, including the TRAPPIST-1 system. The program is updated daily with the latest finds from NASA and ground-based observatories around the world.
Latest images and videos
Images from 2017
Since 2017, we knew the TRAPPIST-1 system had seven Earth-sized planets. Now in 2018, a study using new data – including extensive observations by NASA's Spitzer and Kepler space telescopes – has provided more information about this amazing system.
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have conducted the first spectroscopic survey of Earth-sized planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system’s habitable zone.
See the TRAPPIST-1 gallery of art and animations at Caltech's Spitzer telescope site, as of Feb 2017.
Archived footage of the NASA news conference announcing the discovery of the seven TRAPPIST-1 planets on February 22, 2017.
This video features interviews with the scientists who discovered the system of seven planets orbiting TRAPPIST-1, an ultra-cool dwarf star.
How would life be different around a red star? While we don’t know if there is life on the TRAPPIST-1 planets, we do know that any life discovered there would likely be very different from life on Earth.
This video details a system of seven planets orbiting TRAPPIST-1, a discovery of the Spitzer Space Telescope, operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
This animation visualizes the change in light as each planet passes in front of its star. The study established the planets' size, distance from their sun and, for some of them, their approximate mass and density.
How do we know what the air is like on planets we haven't visited? This James Webb Space Telescope video explains how to see air from 150 light-years away.
An animation of the seven TRAPPIST-1 planets transiting in front of their red dwarf star.
This video depicts artist's concepts of each of the seven planets orbiting TRAPPIST-1, an ultra-cool dwarf star. The planets appear in the order of innermost to outermost planets.
This animation portrays NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope in space.
Panelists from the 2017 news conference
Title: Research Associate at the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S.-FNRS)
Institution: University of Liège, Belgium
Role in TRAPPIST-1 discovery: Initiator and lead.
Other missions/topics worked on: The detection and characterization of transiting exoplanets. PI of the projects TRAPPIST and SPECULOOS. PI of many Spitzer and ESO programs, and Co-I of the CoRoT and CHEOPS exoplanet space missions.
Title: Manager, Spitzer Science Center
Role in TRAPPIST-1 discovery: Co-author of paper.
Other missions/topics worked on: Spitzer, NEOCam and WFIRST. Additional scientific work includes the physics of the interstellar medium and studying the galactic distribution of planets via microlensing.
Title: NASA Associate Adminstrator, Science Mission Directorate
Institution: NASA, Washington, D.C.
Other missions/topics worked on: Please see Dr. Zurbuchen’s biographical page.
Title: Professor of Planetary Science, Professor of Physics
Other missions/topics worked on: TESS Deputy Science Director. PI ASTERIA. Expert in biosignature gases in the search for life on exoplanets.
Title: Assistant Astronomer/James Webb Space Telescope Project Scientist
Institution: Space Telescope Science Institute
Role in TRAPPIST-1 discovery: I co-lead the investigation of the TRAPPIST-1 planets with Hubble’s Wide-Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instrument.
Other missions/topics worked on: Specializes in understanding circulation and cloud/haze formation in exoplanet atmospheres. Currently a Deputy-PI of a WFIRST Coronagraphic Instrument (CGI) Science Investigation Team (SIT), the JWST Project Scientist at STScI, and part of a team (PI Sarah Horst, JHU) creating exoplanet hazes in the lab.
The seven Earth-size planets of TRAPPIST-1 are all mostly made of rock, with some having the potential to hold more water than Earth, according to a new study published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Hubble reveals that at least three of the TRAPPIST-1 planets do not seem to contain puffy, hydrogen-rich atmospheres similar to gaseous planets such as Neptune.
A bumper crop of Earth-sized planets huddled around a red dwarf star could be little more than chunks of rock blasted by radiation. Or they could harbor exotic lifeforms, thriving under orange twilight skies.
NASA's Hubble Telescope made the first atmospheric study of these Earth-sized exoplanets last year, uncovering clues that increase the chances the two worlds are suitable for life.
The extraordinary TRAPPIST-1 finding was made possible with over 21 days of near-contiguous Spitzer Space Telescope observations of the ultra-cool M-dwarf.
The European Southern Observatory's news release describes the temperate Earth-sized worlds found in an extraordinarily rich planetary system.
Go here to read "Seven temperate terrestrial planets around the nearby ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1," published in Nature.
A short fictional account published in Nature imagines a first-person narrative account of life on the TRAPPIST-1 planets.
The official website from the scientists behind the discovery, this gives a brief introduction to the system.
NASA exoplanet experts and the astronomers who discovered the TRAPPIST-1 planets answered questions about the seven Earth-sized worlds on February 22, 2017.