© Franck Selsis, Laboratoire d’astrophysique de Bordeaux (CNRS/Université de Bordeaux). The planetary system around TRAPPIST-1. The sizes of the objects are to scale, but the distances have been reduced tenfold. The star’s color is realistic. The bluish area indicates the zone where water may be present on the planets’ surfaces. The greyish area shows the possible range of orbital distances for planet h.
Seven temperate Earth-sized planets revolve around the star TRAPPIST-1. In addition, at least three of them harbor conditions compatible with the presence of liquid water on their surfaces. The discovery was made by an international team led by a Belgian scientist and including researchers from the CNRS, the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and the Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie (UPMC), the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux (CNRS/Université de Bordeaux), Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (CNRS/UPMC/École polytechnique/ENS Paris) and Laboratoire Astrophysique, Instrumentation et Modélisation (CNRS/CEA/Université Paris Diderot). The planetary system around the star TRAPPIST-1 is one of the most astonishing and promising yet discovered, especially with regard to its scientific potential: as well as determining the orbits and masses of the planets, it will be possible in the near future to detect the potential presence of atmospheres. In early 2016, high-precision brightness (“photometric”) monitoring carried out by ESO's TRAPPIST telescope and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope discovered three Earth-sized planets (TRAPPIST-1 b, c and d) orbiting around the star TRAPPIST-1. Due to the orientation of the planetary system, the planets pass in front of the star during each orbit, causing a fall in brightness known as a transit. The amplitude of the transits is used to determine the radius of the planets, while their periodicity indicates their orbital distance and hence their insolation.
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