NASA discovers new solar system TRAPPIST-1

Astronomers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have announced the discovery of a new solar system that is 39 light years away from Earth.

They have detected seven planets of the size of the Earth, or slightly smaller, orbiting the star of the TRAPPIST-1, and it is believed that they have the qualities needed to support life. 

Three of the planets could also have oceans so it gives a hope to astronomers that someday they will find a second Earth 

The planets of this system are all very close to the star, which is small and cold, and very close to each other so they are similar to see the Moon from the Earth. That's why those planets could have some water and maybe life, because they are template. Their orbits are smaller than the Mercury one.

The star of the TERAPPIST-1 has a temperature of 2550K, and our Sun 5778K.

The observations were made by the Terappist robotic telescope at La Silla, Chile, and now, the NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is searching for atmospheres around the planets. Future telescopes may be powerful enough to detect markers of life, like oxygen. 

This is the Liverpool Telescope they used. It is located on La Palma in Canary Islands where the skies are clear most of the time.

The first planet discovered outside of our Solar System was in 1992 and since then 3577 planets have been found. But just twelve of them are able to maybe support life and just three are as ideal as those they have recently found. Though all, they estimate that there coulf be 40 billion habitable worlds in our galaxy.

Here you can see the TRAPPIST-1 planets compared to 4 of our planets.

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MY OPINION: 

For me those new discoveries are very interesting because we all know that out of our solar system, somewhere else, life exists, so every day we get closer to find it with new technologies and new studies. And who knows, maybe one day humans can conquer another planet. 

To me, knowing that they estimate that there are 40 billion planets able to support life reminds me of the enormous things we don't already know about the place we live and the things we will never know. So we are just an insignificant planet in one of the many enormous galaxies. 

"The human race is just a chemical scum on a moderate-sized planet, orbiting around a very average star in the outer suburb of one among a hundred billion galaxies. We are so insignificant that I can't believe the whole universe exists for our benefit. That would be like saying that you would disappear if I closed my eyes." - Stephen Hawking.