Australian Science Illustrated — Issue 54 2017

scienceillustrated.com.au | 29

The seven newly discovered planets

orbit a red dwarf star about 39 light

years from Earth.

Mild star. Rocky worlds. Is this...

A cold star and seven small rocky planets. That is the description of a newly-

discovered stellar system, which astronomers consider one of the major

planetary discoveries of the decade. Three Earth-like planets orbit in the star's

habitable zone, and this gives us hope for the possibility of life.

Solar System 2.0?

JPL-CALTECH/NASA

By Rolf Haugaard Nielsen