22 Feb '17 20:16>
http://www.space.com/35790-seven-earth-size-planets-trappist-1-discovery.html?utm_source=notification
It's a dwarf star putting out about 1/2000th the intensity of our sun.
So the habital zone is very close to the star and these planets are orbiting in times measured in days! 9 days, one week, that kind of thing.
But it is only 39 light years away, about ten times further than Alpha Centauri but still pretty local as interstellar distances goes.
If a propulsion system could get to 1/10th c, it would be about 400 years to get there and even at half c would run 80 years so any way you slice it it is still far away in time for us. But it is the closest to finding possible life outside our solar system.
It's a dwarf star putting out about 1/2000th the intensity of our sun.
So the habital zone is very close to the star and these planets are orbiting in times measured in days! 9 days, one week, that kind of thing.
But it is only 39 light years away, about ten times further than Alpha Centauri but still pretty local as interstellar distances goes.
If a propulsion system could get to 1/10th c, it would be about 400 years to get there and even at half c would run 80 years so any way you slice it it is still far away in time for us. But it is the closest to finding possible life outside our solar system.