In 2003, NASA launched its Spitzer Space Telescope into space. The telescope spent 16 years studying the universe in infrared light until it ended its mission at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020. NASA ended up finding another solar system 40 light-years away. They call this system The Trappist-1. They also found seven earth-sized planets orbiting a star. Most of them are made of rock, but three of them lay in the “Habitable Zone” around the big star. 

Temperatures on these planets might be just right to support liquid water on their surface. Some of the planets could have up to five percent of their weight in water — this would be 250 times more water than earth.  Spitzer’s observations allowed scientists to learn more about the size and mass of these planets, and these observations can be used to figure out what the planets are made of and what can inhabit them.

They are also studying and trying to figure out if life could be present or presented on one or more of these planets. This can lead to a big question: if life could exist on one of these planets, could there possibly be aliens? If the planets have water, it is most likely to be habitable. So, if aliens aren’t an option, maybe one day human life could exist on one of these three planets.

Many are confident that life could be present on other planets besides Earth. They believe this because it is not impossible or denied that the extraterrestrial exists. NASA’s search in space still isn’t completed, so it has more to discover and more to look forward to figuring out. After all, space is really big.