Hold onto your butt’s science nerds, as well as EVERYONE ON EARTH,  because approximately 40 light-years (235 trillion miles) from Earth NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered a string of 7 planets that have the potential to contain liquid water (the key to potentially house human life and my third favorite drink).

Located in the constellation Aquarius, TRAPPIST-1’s sun-star is an “ultra-cool dwarf” (heck ya it is) much cooler then the Sun of our system. This means that all 7 discovered planets could be Earth-like. All bodies are located no further away to their Star then Mercury is to the sun. As an added bonus, being closer  in orbit would allow someone to see the other 6 planets from the surface.  The 7 Planets are tidally locked to TRAPPIST-1’s sun, so Scientists are seeing climates entirely different from that of Earth.  One side of the planet will have perpetual day, while the other will be encased in dark at all times, for instance.

Someone tell the Andromeda crew that they’re cool to stop searching

From Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, “This discovery could be a significant piece in the puzzle of finding habitable environments, places that are conducive to life.  Answering the question ‘are we alone’ is a top science priority and finding so many planets like these for the first time in the habitable zone is a remarkable step forward toward that goal.”

For the full article, head over to NASA’s announcement page here.