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Explore Trappist-1d in Nasa’s virtual 3d tour of newly discovered Earth-like planet

Look into the red skies and you can see six other planets in the newly discovered solar system

EARTHLINGS are being encouraged to stroll around a planet in the newly discovered solar system, TRAPPIST-1.

Nasa has created a virtual tour of the surface of TRAPPIST-1d, which scientists believe could hold alien life.

[youtube //www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2MgG6KhO1E]

You can take a tour of one of the planets, TRAPPIST-1d
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You can take a tour of one of the planets, TRAPPIST-1d

In the three-dimensional tour, viewers can watch the planet's version of our Sun, a cool dwarf planet called TRAPPIST-1, looming over the horizon.

Six other planets in the distant solar system can be seen in sky too.

Viewers simply need to move the cursor around the screen, or can really immerse themselves if they have a Google Cardboard viewer or Virtual Reality headset.

They haven't added in any little green men to the tour, but life may have evolved on at least three planets in TRAPPIST-1, which at just 39 light years from Earth is right in our cosmic back yard, astronomers claim.

It is a record for the number of Earth-like, potentially habitable worlds in one star system.

Each world is roughly in Earth’s size range, in terms of both mass and diameter and three are in the Goldilocks zone, where it is not too hot or too cold.

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An artist's impression of  two planet orbiting the Trappist-1 star (similar to our Sun)
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An artist's impression of  two planet orbiting the Trappist-1 star (similar to our Sun)Credit: European Southern Observatory
Handout image issued by NASA showing an artist's concept of space tourists visiting the surface of the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1e, one of seven Earth-sized worlds orbiting a cool dwarf star known as TRAPPIST-1
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Handout image issued by NASA showing an artist's concept of space tourists visiting the surface of the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1e, one of seven Earth-sized worlds orbiting a cool dwarf star known as TRAPPIST-1Credit: PA:Press Association
Artist's concept of TRAPPIST-1, an ultra-cool dwarf star, and the seven Earth-size planets orbiting it
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Artist's concept of TRAPPIST-1, an ultra-cool dwarf star, and the seven Earth-size planets orbiting itCredit: PA:Press Association
An artist's conception of what the surface of the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1f may look like, based on available data about its diameter, mass and distances from the host star
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An artist's conception of what the surface of the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1f may look like, based on available data about its diameter, mass and distances from the host starCredit: AP:Associated Press

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This means they are likely to have oceans on their surface - a key ingredient for life.

Nasa announced the new solar system and the possibility of alien life in a press conference on Wednesday evening.

In its excitement, it created posters which show what space tourists might see if they visited the surface of Trappist-1e.

Stargazer discovered the planet using some of the most powerful telescopes on Earth.

They first spotted dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 and then noticed seven other planet-shaped objects blocking out the light on a regular rotation.

This suggested that the were orbiting the star in a similar way to our own solar system.

From these observations of fading starlight, astronomers were able to measure the planets' sizes and temperatures, and to weigh them up.

The planets do not have names yet, but have simply been labelled TRAPPIST-1b, c, d, e, f, g and h.

They all lie closer to their home star than our own inner planet Mercury is from the Sun.

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