Scientists, have at it: NASA has released raw data from the Kepler Space Telescope probing the many Earth-size planets around the star TRAPPIST-1.
In February, data from the Spitzer Space Telescope revealed that seven planets orbit the ultracool dwarf star, and now, the recently released Kepler data (and its final, processed version) will give a complementary look at the worlds, three of which might orbit in the star's habitable zone.
Kepler's observations could provide more detail about the gravitational interactions among the planets, and perhaps reveal even more planets around the star, NASA officials said in a statement. [Meet the Planets of TRAPPIST-1 (Slideshow)]
As part of its K2 mission, Kepler examined the TRAPPIST-1 system from Dec. 15, 2016, to March 4, 2017 — and its data became much more exciting upon the Feb. 22 announcement of additional Earth-size planets orbiting the star. Yesterday (March 8), Kepler researchers released the unprocessed data from that survey for astronomers to use in preparing research proposals.
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