Category Archives: Tumblr

More about the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system

astronomy-posts:

TRAPPIST-1 is an ultra-cold red dwarf star in the constellation Aquarius.

It has:

  • a mass of about 9% that of the Sun
  • a radius slightly larger than the planet Jupiter
  • surface temperature of about 2,560 K (2,290 °C).

It is about 39 light years (12 parsecs) from the Sun and is estimated to be about 7.6 billion years old, making it older than the Solar System.

TRAPPIST-1 is a planetary system. The main object of this system is a dwarf star much colder than the Sun named also TRAPPIST-1 and which I told you about above.

Comparison between the characteristics of the terrestrial planets in the solar system and those of the planets in the planetary system TRAPPIST-1.

Distance comparison between the planets in the solar system and the planets in the planetary system TRAPPIST-1.

At least seven solid planets, similar in size or smaller than Earth’s orbit (about three-quarters of the Earth’s radius) orbit this star.

FACTS

  1. The planets may appear like moons in each other’s skies
  2. The TRAPPIST-1 planets are so close together that if you could stand on the surface of one, you might see some of the neighboring planets hovering above.

This artist’s concept by Tim Pyle allows us to imagine what it would be like to stand on the surface of the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1f, located in the TRAPPIST-1 system