Original artworks from NASA

Some 40 light-years from Earth, a planet called TRAPPIST-1e offers a heart-stopping view: brilliant objects in a red sky, looming like larger and smaller versions of our own moon. But these are no moons. They are other Earth-sized planets in a spectacular planetary system outside our own. These seven rocky worlds huddle around their small, dim, red star, like a family around a campfire. Any of them could harbor liquid water, but the planet shown here, fourth from the TRAPPIST-1 star, is in the habitable zone, the area around the star where liquid water is most likely to be detected. This system was revealed by the TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetIsmals Small Telescope (TRAPPIST) and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an autonomous organization of the United States Federal Government liable for the regular citizen space program and aeronautics and space research. NASA was set up in 1958, succeeding the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Since its foundation, most US space investigation endeavours have been driven by NASA, including the Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station, and the Space Shuttle.