Science! Seven Earth-like planets discovered, mostly-submerged continent confirmed (New Zealand)

A group of international scientists have announced that a dwarf star only 40 light years from the Earth has at least seven apparently rocky planets with potential to harbour water and life.

The discovery of the planets, which are all about the size of Earth or smaller, was announced at the NASA headquarters in Washington, DC, and published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.

"Looking for life elsewhere, this system is probably our best bet as of today," said Brice-Olivier Demory, professor at the University of Bern's Centre for Space and Habitability and one of the authors of a paper on the planets around TRAPPIST-1, a small, ultracool star.

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The TRAPPIST-1's planets are similar to the inner solar system around Earth's sun, Demory's analysis of data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope showed.

The discovery sets a new record for the greatest number of habitable-zone planets found around a single star outside our solar system, NASA said.

Like previous exoplanets - or planets beyond Earth's solar system - TRAPPIST-1's satellites were spotted when astronomers saw the planets "transit" the star, blocking some of the light captured by telescopes.

"The discovery gives us a hint that finding a second Earth is not just a matter of if, but when," said Thomas Zurbuchen, of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA.

By most standards, Earth has seven continents – Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia/Oceania, Europe, North America, and South America. A group of geologists believes we should recognize an eighth. Earth’s “hidden” continent, they say, is a mostly submerged land mass beneath New Zealand and New Caledonia – an elevated part of the ocean floor, about two-thirds the size of Australia – nicknamed Zealandia. Writing in the March/April 2017 issue of GSA Today, geologist Nick Mortimer of GNS Science in New Zealand and his colleagues said:

The identification of Zealandia as a geological continent, rather than a collection of continental islands, fragments, and slices, more correctly represents the geology of this part of Earth.

Zealandia is thought to have been submerged for at least 23 million years. Today, 93% of it is under water, with only New Zealand and New Caledonia visible above the waves. Some 100 million years ago, when Zealandia was still above water, it began pulling away from the supercontinent of Gondwana. That process stretched Zealandia’s crust, causing most of it to sink.

eddie wrote:
I was just going to post this story up.

Told you there will be life on other planets.