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Researchers discovered that three of the Trappist-1 planets are situated in a zone that might allow for interplanetary travel of life forms
BEACON TRANSCRIPT – A new report from Cornell University was published last week and brought exciting news for astronomy and science enthusiasts. They discovered that intelligent life forms might be able to travel across three planets which, after all, might be habitable. The planets are, of course, part of the Trappist-1 system.
The planets are part of the dwarf star system Trappist-1, which includes seven exoplanets which quite a high possibility of hosting extraterrestrial life. NASA discovered the system in late February. These three planets in question are situated in a “Goldilocks zone”, which is basically a region around a star with the optimal conditions to support liquid water on the surface of planets.
An area which allows interplanetary travel
Also, these three planets are situated at short distances from each other, thus making it not unlikely for aliens to travel from one planet to another and do “interplanetary panspermia”. This is the hypothesis approached in the report, led by co-authors Manasvi Lingam and Abraham Loeb. Panspermia occurs when life forms that pertain to a certain area in the universe travel to other planets and initiate life forms there.
This hypothesis is entirely theoretical. However, the authors said that Trappist-1 might have the perfect conditions that, for the first time, would allow life forms to travel across planets in outer space. But these life forms might not be what you expect.
What kind of life forms could be there?
Researchers at Harvard University explained what life forms might be able to travel across these planets. They are most likely to be bacteria which attach to meteors or other cosmic bodies which contain hydrogen and water. These tiny life forms might be able to go in a dormant state while they are traveling from one planet to another. However, researchers are not sure yet if they can actually survive such a journey.
The three exoplanets so close to each other were named Trappist-1e, 1f, and 1g. Their names had been chosen according to their distance from the dwarf star. As you can see, the planets in the Goldilocks zone are almost the farthest ones from the star.
Loeb is optimistic about interplanetary travel in the area.
“It would not be surprising to find the same forms of life on all three habitable planets near Trappist-1. Because these distances are so close, a lot more different kinds of species, microbial or otherwise, could migrate from one planet to another.”
If their hypothesis turns out to be true, we will be witnessing the greatest astronomic discovery humanity has ever dreamt about.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
