14
votes
Accepted
Why is TRAPPIST-1f considered habitable?
None of the TRAPPIST-1 planets are "considered habitable"; we don't know nearly enough about them to say that (any news article which referred to the planets themselves as "habitable" needs firm ...
- 165k
11
votes
A Jupiter-sized star?
Jupiter is about as large as a planet can get, physically. Suppose we slowly add hydrogen and helium to Jupiter, so slowly so as to keep it at more or less its current temperature. Surprisingly, it ...
- 71.9k
8
votes
Why is TRAPPIST-1f considered habitable?
The temperature estimate is based on no atmosphere. For instance, Earth, without our atmosphere, would have an average temperature of -20°C . The equator should be warmer, and any atmosphere will also ...
- 121k
7
votes
How come we can see nearby galaxies but are unable to see TRAPPIST-1?
How do we have telescopes that are powerful enough to see nearby galaxies, such as Andromeda (M31), but are unable to see TRAPPIST-1 or the other exoplanets in its solar system in detail when TRAPPIST-...
- 71.9k
4
votes
How come we can see nearby galaxies but are unable to see TRAPPIST-1?
Trappist-1 is difficult to see because it's not very big. In fact it's so small (~11% the radius, and ~8% the mass of the Sun), that if it were any less massive, it wouldn't be able to support fusion!...
- 193
3
votes
What are the chances of life on 7 Earth-like exoplanets discovered by NASA?
NASA has said roughly Earth sized. From this, reporters have written "Earth like". Some publications are even showing what look like photos of planets. These are likely generated with computers used ...
3
votes
How come we can see nearby galaxies but are unable to see TRAPPIST-1?
In recent years, astronomers have been able to see (in their words, 'image directly') a few exoplanets. This is one of those:
We have found about 2000 exoplanets so far, but we've only been ...
- 123k
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