There Could Be Alien Life Forms in Trappist-1 Hopping From One Planet to the Other

Since it's discovery, Trappist-1 star system raised some very important theories -- including one that includes alien life forms. But a recent study suggests that there could be aliens in Trappists-1 and they're jumping from one planet to the other.

Last February, NASA announced that a new Solar System was discovered not too far away from Earth. Trappist-1 is composed of a star and seven exoplanets that orbit around it. What's interesting is that scientists believe that three out of the seven exoplanets may even be suitable for life since they are found in the habitable zone.

Trappist-1 also became interesting to alien hunters who are now pointing towards Trappist-1 as one of the most suitable areas in the universe to find alien life. A study suggests that the planets might be too close to each other that even alien life forms, such as microbes can just jump from one body to the other.

The theory that microbes may be island hopping in Trappist-1 was presented by a new study by Manasvi Lingam and Avi Loeb at Harvard University. The researchers suggest that since the planets are close enough, object collision could send materials into space that later on falls into the neighboring planet. The microbes' island hopping pattern is called "panspermia". Some say this is how the Earth started as well.

"The rocks are driven into space," Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb, and a co-author on the paper said in an interview with Gizmodo. "If there is life on one of them, life may be preserved inside these rocks and be transferred to another planet."

A model used to test the theory are the island patterns on Earth where some species were found thriving in their neighboring islands.

"These planets are similar to islands on the surface of the Earth, and there are studies of the immigration of species from one island to another," Loeb added. "We used the same model to illustrate that the likelihood is very high for transfer of life."

In order to prove the theory, a more in-depth study on the Trappist-1 system is necessary.