Visit TRAPPIST-1e! NASA Travel Poster Advertises Exoplanet Discovery

By Tariq Malik
published

Visit TRAPPIST-1e! NASA released this exoplanet travel poster to commemorate the discovery of seven Earth-size planets, three of them in the habitable zone, around the star TRAPPIST-1 39 light-years from Earth.
Visit TRAPPIST-1e! NASA released this exoplanet travel poster to commemorate the discovery of seven Earth-size planets, three of them in the habitable zone, around the star TRAPPIST-1 39 light-years from Earth. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

If you're looking for an ultra-long vacation to an ultra-small dwarf star, a new NASA travel poster has just the trip for you: a star trek to TRAPPIST-1e!

NASA unveiled the retro TRAPPIST-1e exoplanet travel poster Wednesday (Feb. 22) to commemorate the discovery of seven Earth-size alien worlds around the dwarf star TRAPPIST-1. The image is the latest in a series of awesome NASA space travel posters to promote exoplanet science.

"Planet Hop From TRAPPIST-1e," the NASA poster proclaims, showing what appears to be two children marveling at a view of the system's six other planet  in the sky. "Voted Best 'Hab Zone' Vacation Within 12 Parsecs of Earth." TRAPPIST-1e is one of three planets (the others are TRAPPIST-1f and TRAPPIST-1g) in the TRAPPIST-1 system located within the cool dwarf star's habitable zone, that "Goldilocks zone" where liquid water could exist. [How Long Would It Take to Fly to TRAPPIST-1?]

The system is just over 39 light-years from Earth. That's about 235 trillion miles, or as you've read above, about 12 parsecs.

Twelve parsecs! Han Solo's Millennium Falcon from "Star Wars" could easily make the trip. After all, it's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. 

You can download in high-resolution here — even a print-out poster size! — from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

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Tariq Malik
Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.