The Real TRAPPIST-1
TRAPPIST-1 is an honest-to-goodness real place!
Last updated
TRAPPIST-1 is an honest-to-goodness real place!
Last updated
In 2016, NASA astronomers pointed the Spitzer Space Telescope at the nearby red dwarf star known as . It's very close to our own solar system, at just 40 light-years distant; only 13 stars are closer. The star was already known to have three planets and the space telescope was going to give scientists a better look.
But Spitzer’s observations revealed that TRAPPIST-1 actually has seven rocky, Earth-sized planets orbiting it. More than that, three of these planets are orbiting inside the star’s habitable zone and it’s possible that liquid water is present on all seven planets.
The hint boxes below will explain how we have incorporated the real scientific observations into the game world, for a truly authentic experience.
The radii of the planets are 76% to 113% of Earth's radius, providing strong evidence that they are rocky planets.
(The planets were named 1b (innermost) to 1h (outermost). The letter A is implied for the star itself.)
Because the sizes and densities of the seven planets are similar to Earth's, so, too, are their specific gravity, which range from 57% to 110% of Earth's gravity.
In Trappist 1, we have scaled the planets 1,000:1, so they have explorable, game-sized radii between 4.9Km and 7.2Km. Further, because the dwarf star is barely larger than Jupiter, it, too, is scaled at 1,000:1, with an in-game radius of 82.9Km.
Each planet's gravity will match NASA's observations. This means you'll feel a spring in your step on most planets, but it also means you will be able to carry less on the heavier planets. Manage your inventory according to your destination!
The TRAPPIST-1 planets orbit extremely closely to their star. The outermost planet 1h orbit is just one-sixth of Mercury's distance to the Sun. Because the star is so small, though, three of these planets are inside the habitable zone, meaning liquid water could exist on their surfaces without freezing or boiling off.
Because these planets are so very, very close to the star, their orbits are extremely fast. Planet 1b orbits the star in just 1.5 days, while a "year" on 1h is just 18.8 days.
For the orbits, even at 1,000:1, travel distances in the game would be unbearable. Players would also not be able to see the planets.
So in Trappist 1, we have scaled the orbits 2,000,000:1. This means the outermost planet 1h is 4,628Km from the centre of the solar system. That's a hefty distance in a game, but manageable if you have a fast ship!
The planets in Trappist 1 orbit the star using the actual orbital periods observed by NASA.
Fascinatingly, each adjacent planet-pair is in “orbital resonance,” meaning their orbits are almost perfect integer-ratios; they line up together at the same point, every few orbits. Here's how they pair up:
For every 8 orbits of planet 1b, planet 1c orbits 5 times;
For every 5 orbits of 1c, 1d orbits 3 times;
For every 3 orbits of 1d, 1e orbits twice;
For every 3 orbits of 1e, 1f orbits twice;
For every 4 orbits of 1f, 1g orbits three times;
For every 3 orbits of 1g, 1h orbits twice.
It is thought that this resonance has helped keep the planets' close orbits stable.
Astute readers will see that the resonance integers actually match up across all seven planets like so: 24, 15, 9, 6, 4, 3, 2. For every 24 orbits of 1b, 1h will orbit twice. This was too awesome for us to ignore.
So in Trappist 1, we have slightly tweaked these resonances (+/- 2%) so they are all exact integers, and then we aligned all seven planets according to these new calculations. The result is that the planets line up perfectly every 36 days, 14 hours, 41 minutes! It's a sight to behold!
This near-monthly event will involve plenty of fanfare and in-game bonuses for players who are online at the time of alignment!
(Yes, we know that this is more astrology than astronomy, but it's a game and it has to be fun! We apologise in advance to Neil deGrasse Tyson, whom you just know is going get pissy about this.)
All of these facts have captured the imaginations of scientists, amateur astronomers, artists and science-fiction writers alike. It is inarguably the best candidate for finding life outside our solar system, and NASA has big plans for it:
For the record, the Webb has been launched and is now in position, 1.5 million Km from Earth. We are very excited to see what new information the Webb will teach us about TRAPPIST-1!
We have taken some creative liberties to flesh out the solar system. So far, no evidence of moons or an asteroid belt has been found in TRAPPIST-1, but neither have they been ruled out.
We feel that excluding such well-known celestial bodies would have made the solar system feel a little empty.
“Spitzer, Hubble, and Kepler will help astronomers plan for follow-up studies using [the] James Webb Space Telescope … With much greater sensitivity, Webb will be able to detect the chemical fingerprints of water, methane, oxygen, ozone, and other components of a planet’s atmosphere. Webb also will analyze planets’ temperatures and surface pressures – key factors in assessing their habitability.” --
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