This public domain artist’s impression shows an imagined view from close to one of the three planets orbiting a dwarf star just 40 light-years from Earth that were discovered using the TRAPPIST telescope at the European Southern Observatory’s facility at La Silla, Chile. These worlds have sizes and temperatures similar to those of Venus and Earth and may be the best candidates found thus in the search for life outside our solar system. They are the first planets ever discovered around such a tiny and dim star. In this view one of the inner planets is seen in transit across the disc of its tiny and dim parent star.
As Guy Briggs, who kindly brought this to my attention, said, “It’s got a cappella! It’s got Disney! It’s got science! It’s got Middle East! What more could you want, Daniel Peterson?”
Really. This is extraordinarily clever. But be sure to follow the captions at the bottom, because things go fast.
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