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Google doodle on seven exoplanets: Tech gaint pats NASA's back for discovery

By FnF Correspondent | PUBLISHED: 23, Feb 2017, 9:55 am IST | UPDATED: 24, Feb 2017, 14:55 pm IST

Google doodle on seven exoplanets: Tech gaint pats NASA's back for discovery New Delhi: Scientists from NASA have discovered seven exoplanets beyond our solar system revolving around a small, cold star - which points to the possibility of liquid water and life.

The announcement was made yesterday by scientists from the space organisation and is being seen as one of the biggest announcements made by it yet.

Google has dedicated a doodle to the discovery that shows a telescope looking out towards space from a circle, representing the earth, with the moon by its side.

Scientists have said that they need to ascertain whether the atmosphere of the rocky planets offers a hospitable environment for sustaining life.

This new planet system has been located inside our galaxy less than 40 light years away in the constellation Aquarius. The planets were found to be circling around the cool, dwarf star called Trappist-1, which is roughly the size of Jupiter and is almost 200 times dimmer than the Sun.

Three of those planets were in a ‘hospitable’ condition, according to NASA, who said that it was very likely that they could be supporting life.

Scientists said that the possibility of such planets existing in our galaxy was overwhelming. “There are 200 billion stars in our galaxy. So do an account. You multiply this by 10, and you have the number of Earth-size planets in the galaxy – which is a lot,” said Emmanuel Jehin of the University of Liege.

Researchers also said that the orbit of the exoplanets around the Trappist-1 was much like Jupiter and its orbiting moons, which means that had the exoplanets been inside our galaxy, all seven planets would be inside the orbit of Mercury.
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