Newly discovered solar system off the Gerrymeter charts

Science journal Nature this weekpublished the startling news NASA has found seven Earth-sized exoplanets around a single star, Trappist-1.

Three of those planets fall in the “habitable zone”, neither too hot nor too cold to hold liquid water.

“I think that we’ve made a crucial step towards finding if there is life out there,” University of Cambridge astronomer Amaury Triaud said.

NASA chief scientist Thomas Zurbuchen said the revelation meant “finding a second Earth is not just a matter of if, but when”.

The discovery ranks five Gerrys — the highest possible score on the Gerrymeter, the metric used by the NT News to gauge the credibility of extraterrestrial-related news.

RELATED: HOW THE GERRYMETER UFO SIGHTING CREDIBILITY SCALE WORKS

UFO Reseach spokesman Doug Moffett said it was a thrilling discovery.

“Anything that points to life being more abundant in the universe points to the possibility of other civilisations or intelligent life being there as well,” he said.

He said the odds of a civilisation advanced enough to have mastered faster than light travel were strong, given the size and age of the universe.

“I don’t think anyone could mount the argument these days that we’re alone in the universe. It’s impossible,” he said.

The newly discovered solar system is just 39 light years from Earth, meaning it would take about 44 million years to travel there from Darwin Airport on the Jetstar red-eye.

“In space terms, that’s not very far away. That’s almost like a neighbouring suburb,” Mr Moffett said.

Mr Moffett estimated up to 1500 reports of UFO sightings were made to Australian UFO organisations each year.

Hot spots included the NT’s Wycliffe Well. He speculated the extraterrestrial visitors to remote areas were attempting a kind of “drip feed learning” of humankind.

“Maybe they think (a mass reveal of their existence) is going to be too much for humans,” he said.

Closer to home, independent MLA Gerry Wood on Wednesday claimed to have spotted a strange light in the sky near Coolalinga. It’s the first UFO Mr Wood has spotted in at least five years.

He theorised the presence of United States marines in Darwin had frightened them away since sightings reached their peak in 2010.

{ http://www.ntnews.com.au/ }