On Feb. 22, NASA announced the discovery of seven Earth-like planets in a press release.

The discovery confirmed by the Spitzer Space telescope marked the most Earth-sized planets found in the habitable zone of a single star. Though all of the seven planets orbiting Trappist-1, the star of the system, have the potential for liquid water (key to all known life), only three are located in the habitable zone, the area around the star where liquid water is most likely to be found.

Trappist-1 is different from our own Sun. As an ultra-cool dwarf, the star is cool enough that liquid water could potentially be found on even the closest orbiting planets. The planets orbiting Trappist-1 are also very close to their star and each other. According to NASA, a person standing on one of the planet’s surface could potentially see geological features or clouds of neighboring planets.

Though it is exciting to speculate what life could possibly exist in the system of Trappist-1, it’s impossible to tell until more research is done. Plans for follow-up studies include using the James Webb Space Telescope, which will launch in 2018. The new telescope will have heightened sensitivity and will be able to detect water and many components of the exoplanets’ atmospheres.