TRAPPIST-1

This is an artist rendering of the planetary system TRAPPIST-1. Discovered at ESO, it is located 40 light years away from Earth in the constellation Aquarius. The star is an ultra cool dwarf star and is slightly bigger than Jupiter. It is one of the smallest stars harboring planets.

The three planets are all rocky planets slightly bigger than Earth. Here, the viewer is located on the third and furthest planet from the star. With a luminosity 2000 times lower than the Sun and a temperature of only 2550 K, the star barely illuminates the sky of this planet. Although its orbit is uncertain, it is most likely 8.7 million kilometers away from the star, or 17 times closer than the Earth is from the Sun. At this distance, the surface is frozen, giving no hope for life to emerge. The other two planets (seen here passing in front of the star), on the other hand, are too close and
thus too hot. But there may be some areas facing away from the star which could have suitable conditions for life.