Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2023 February 1
      [2]An illustration showing what it might be like to look from the
    seventh planet out from the star Trappist 1. A pillar of ice and rock
    stands in a snow and ice covered landscape. A star surrounded by six
     planets hangs high in the sky. Please see the explanation for more
                            detailed information.

                       The Seventh World of Trappist-1
             Illustration Credit & Copyright: [3]Michael Carroll

   Explanation: Seven worlds orbit the ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1. A
   mere 40 [4]light-years away, many of the exoplanets were discovered in
   2016 using the [5]Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope
   (TRAPPIST) located in the [6]Atlas Mountains of [7]Morocco, and later
   confirmed with telescope including NASA's [8]Spitzer Space Telescope.
   The [9]TRAPPIST-1 planets are likely all rocky and similar in size to
   Earth, and so compose one of the largest [10]treasure troves of
   terrestrial planets ever detected around a single star. Because they
   orbit very close to their faint, tiny star they could also have regions
   where surface temperatures [11]allow for the presence of ice or even
   liquid water, a key ingredient for [12]life. [13]Their tantalizing
   proximity to Earth makes them [14]prime candidates for future
   telescopic explorations of the atmospheres of [15]potentially habitable
   planets. All seven [16]exoplanets appear in the featured illustration,
   which imagines a view from the most distant known world of this system,
   [17]TRAPPIST-1h, as having a rocky landscape covered in ice. Meanwhile,
   in the imagined background, one of the system's inner planets crosses
   in front of the dim, orange, nearly [18]Jupiter-sized parent star.

     Astrophysicists: [19]Browse 3,000+ codes in the Astrophysics Source
                                Code Library
                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
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    Authors & editors: [31]Robert Nemiroff ([32]MTU) & [33]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([34]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [35]Specific rights apply.
              [36]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [37]ASD at [38]NASA / [39]GSFC,
                         [40]NASA Science Activation
                           & [41]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2302/Trappist1h_Carroll_1238.jpg
   3. http://carrollspaceart.com/about/
   4. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/light-year/en/
   5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRAPPIST
   6. https://youtu.be/iwBzYS9Md_8
   7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morocco
   8. https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/mission/mission-overview
   9. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21425
  10. https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/trappist1/
  11. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017MNRAS.464.3728B/abstract
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/diamond_jubilee/debate100th.html
  13. https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/resources/2159/
  14. https://media.istockphoto.com/id/494955611/photo/egyptian-mau-cat-amazed.jpg?s=612x612&w=0&k=20&c=QNTnUcJZ7GKqQ776s472F7caTa8M89BBaZxicpMU450=
  15. https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/search-for-life/habitable-zone/
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220814.html
  17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRAPPIST-1h
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190205.html
  19. http://ascl.net/
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230131.html
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  24. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  29. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230201
  30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230202.html
  31. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  32. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  33. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  34. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  36. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  37. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  38. https://www.nasa.gov/
  39. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  40. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  41. http://www.mtu.edu/