ESOcast 83: Ultracool Dwarf with Planets

Astronomers using telescopes at ESO's observatories in Chile have discovered three planets around a dim dwarf star just 40 light-years from Earth. These worlds have sizes and temperatures similar to those of Venus and the Earth, and they are the best targets so far found in the hunt for life elsewhere in the Universe.

Credit:

ESO.

Editing: Herbert Zodet.
Web and technical support: Mathias André and Raquel Yumi Shida.
Written by: Peter Grimley and Richard Hook.
Narration: Sara Mendes da Costa.
Music: tonelabs (tonelabs.com).
Footage and photos: ESO, L. Calçada, M. Kornmesser, ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), NASA, ESA/
Hubble, F. Pont (Exeter University, UK), A. Lecavelier des Etangs (IAP/CNRS/UPMC, France),
Alexandre Santerne (Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço,
Universidade do Porto) /Planetário do Porto - Centro Ciência Viva,
Gianluca Lombardi (glphoto.it), B. Tafreshi (twanight.org), Theofanis Matsopoulos,
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab,
Chris Meaney (HTSI): Lead Animator and Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org).
Directed by: Herbert Zodet.
Executive producer: Lars Lindberg Christensen.