September 2017

Peggy Whitson, Fyodor Yurchikhin and Jack Fischer after landing (Image NASA TV)

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A few hours ago the astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer and the cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin returned to Earth on the Soyuz MS-04 spacecraft, that landed without problems in Kazakhstan. Peggy Whitson spent more than 9 months on the International Space Station, where she arrived on November 19, 2016 as part of Expedition 50. Jack Fischer and Fyodor Yurchikhin spent just over 4 months on the International Space Station, where they arrived on April 20 2017 as part of Expedition 51.

Artist's impressione of the TRAPPIST-1 system seen from one of its planets (Image ESO/N. Bartmann/spaceengine.org)

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An article published in “The Astronomical Journal” describes a research in which an estimate of the presence of water on the seven planets of the star system TRAPPIST-1 is provided. A team of astronomers led by Vincent Bourrier of the Observatoire de l’Université de Genève, Switzerland, used the Hubble Space Telescope to examine that system concluding that its outer planets are more likely tyo still have a substantial amount of water. They include the three planets in the system’s habitable zone.