Three Earth-sized planets found orbiting a dwarf star

LIEGE, BELGIUM — The search for life beyond our solar system has taken an exciting turn, after a Belgian-led team reported finding planets with the potential to host life.

Fox News reports that a team of Belgian astronomers have discovered three new planets in the Aquarius constellation using the Trappist telescope at the La Silia Observatory in Chile.

The planets are 40 light years away and similar in size and temperature to Earth. They orbit an ultracool dwarf star, named Trappist-1 after the telescope that discovered it. Trappist-1 is a dim, red star about a tenth the size of our Sun, and only slightly bigger than Jupiter. With a temperature of less than 2,700 Kelvin, it's also only half as hot as our sun.

All three planets could have liquid water on their surfaces and thus be potentially hospitable to life.

The two closest planets complete an orbit in 1.5 and 2.4 Earth days, respectively. They receive two to four times more radiation than Earth, and may have areas that can sustain life. The third, with an orbital period ranging from four to 73 days, receives less radiation and may fall within the habitable zone, according to CTV News.

Scientists are already studying the planets' atmospheric conditions using NASA's Spitzer Space telescope, with the Hubble Space Telescope joining in soon.

----------------------------------------­­---------------------

Welcome to TomoNews, where we animate the most entertaining news on the internets. Come here for an animated look at viral headlines, US news, celebrity gossip, salacious scandals, dumb criminals and much more! Subscribe now for daily news animations that will knock your socks off.

Visit our official website for all the latest, uncensored videos: http://us.tomonews.net
Check out our Android app: http://bit.ly/1rddhCj
Check out our iOS app: http://bit.ly/1gO3z1f

Get top stories delivered to your inbox everyday: http://bit.ly/tomo-newsletter

Stay connected with us here:
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/TomoNewsUS
Twitter @tomonewsus http://www.twitter.com/TomoNewsUS
Google+ http://plus.google.com/+TomoNewsUS/
Instagram @tomonewsus http://instagram.com/tomonewsus