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ByMarciaDunn The Associated Press CAPECANAVERAL,FLA. As- tronomers searching for life beyond our solar sys- tem may need to look no farther than a little, feeble nearby star. A Belgian-led team re- ported Monday that it's discovered three Earth- sized planets orbiting an ultra-cool dwarf star less than 40 light-years away. It's the first time planets have been found around this type of star — and it opens up new, rich terri- tory in the search for ex- traterrestrial life. Because this star is so close and so faint, astron- omers can study the at- mospheres of these three temperate exoplanets and, eventually, hunt for signs of possible life. They're al- ready making atmospheric observations, in fact, using NASA's Spitzer Space Tele- scope. The Hubble Space Telescope will join in next week. Altogether, it's a "win- ning combination" for seeking chemical traces of life outside our solar sys- tem, said Massachusetts Institute of Technology re- searcher Julien de Wit, a co-author of the study, re- leased by the journal Na- ture. The star in question — named Trappist-1 after the Belgian telescope in Chile that made the discovery — is barely the size of Jupiter and located in the constel- lation Aquarius. O t he r e xopl a ne t searches have targeted bigger, brighter stars more like our sun, but the star- light in these cases can be so bright that it washes out the signatures of plan- ets. By comparison, cool dwarf stars that emit in- frared light, like Trappist-1, make it easier to spot po- tential worlds. University of Liege as- tronomers in Belgium — lead study authors Michael Gillon and Emmanuel Je- hin — built the Trappist telescope to observe 60 of the nearest ultra-cool dwarf stars. The risky ef- fort paid off, de Wit noted in an email. "Systems around these tiny stars are the only places where we can de- tect life on an Earth-sized exoplanet with our current technology," Gillon said in a statement. "So if we want to find life elsewhere in the universe, this is where we should start to look." The two inner exoplan- ets take between 1.5 and 2.4 days to orbit the Trap- pist-1 star. The precise or- bit time of the third planet is not known, but it falls somewhere between 4.5 days and 73 days. That puts the planets 20 times to 100 times closer to their star than Earth is to our sun, Gillon noted. The setup is more similar in scale to Ju- piter's moons than to our solar system, he added. Although the two in- nermost planets are very close to the star, it show- ers them with only a few times the amount of en- ergy that Earth receives from our own sun. The third exoplanet farther out may receive significantly less of such radiation than Earth does. The astrono- mers speculate the two in- ner exoplanets may have pockets where life may ex- ist, while the third exo- planet actually might fall within the habitable zone — real estate located at just the right distance from a star in order to harbor wa- ter and, possibly, life. Spitzer and Hubble should answer whether the exoplanets have large and clear atmospheres, ac- cording to de Wit. They also might be able to de- tect water and methane, if molecules are present. Future observatories, including NASA's James Web Space Telescope set to launch in 2018, should unearth even more details. Gillon and his colleagues identified the three exo- planets by observing reg- ular dips in the infrared signals emanating from the Trappist-1 star, some 36 light-years away. A sin- gle light-year represents about 6 trillion miles. The astronomers con- ducted the survey last year using the Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope, or Trap- pist. It's considered a pro- totype for a more expansive European project that will widen the search for po- tentially habitable worlds to 500 ultra-cool stars. ASTRONOMY 3planetsorbitingdwarfstar prime spots to search for life THEASSOCIATEDPRESS An artist's impression provided by European Southern Observatory shows an imagined view from the surface one of the three planets orbiting an ultracool dwarf star 40light- years from Earth that were discovered using the TRAPPIST telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory. PRESIDENTIAL RACE JEFF MOREHEAD — CHRONICLE-TRIBUNE Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, right, exchanges words with Donald Trump supporters during a campaign visit to Marion, Ind., on Monday. By Thomas Beaumont and Steve Peoples The Associated Press OSCEOLA, IND. Ted Cruz's conservative crusade for the presidency fought for new life Monday ahead of an Indiana vote that could effectively end the GOP's primary season. The fiery Texas senator hinted at an exit strategy, even as he vowed to compete to the end against surging Republican front-runner Donald Trump. "I am in for the distance — as long as we have a vi- able path to victory," Cruz told reporters after cam- paigning at a popular breakfast stop. "The entire country, millions of Americans, are praying for this state," he later added. "The entire country is depending on the state of Indiana to pull us back from this cliff." With his supporters fearing Cruz could lose a seventh consecutive state Tuesday, the candidate's formulation hinted at a time when he may give up. Like Ohio Gov. John Ka- sich, Cruz is already math- ematically eliminated from reaching a delegate majority before the Re- publican Party's national convention in July. He re- treated to Indiana more than a week ago, hoping a win could at least help him deny Trump an out- right primary victory and lead to a contested con- vention. But a recent poll of likely Indiana voters showed Trump holding a commanding lead. At a stop in Monday in Marion, Indiana, Trump supporters confronted Cruz. "Lyin' Ted!" yelled one, using Trump's pet name for his rival. "What do you like about him?" Cruz asked the man. "Name one thing." "Everything," the pro- tester replied. After six straight vic- tories across the North- east late last month, math and momentum are on Trump's side. The anti- Trump movement's only hope is to deny the bil- lionaire businessman a 1,237-delegate majority by defeating him in Indiana and the handful of con- tests remaining over the next month. Then, Cruz or another candidate would have to beat him when del- egates gather in Cleveland in July. Trump's team sensed an Indiana knockout. "Indiana is Ted Cruz's firewall. It's where he says that it's make-or-break for him," Trump cam- paign manager Corey Le- wandowski said. "And if he loses tomorrow night, he has to once again try and articulate why he is still in this race." Tuesday features a primary on the Demo- cratic side, too. New signs emerged that front-runner Hillary Clinton's chief ri- val Bernie Sanders is fad- ing as well. Clinton announced $26 million in new fundraising in April, narrowly beating Sanders. His total of $25.8 million last month marked a steep decline from $46 million he collected in March. Sanders also refused to report how much money he had in the bank, raising questions about whether he can sustain his online fundraising dominance as his path to the nomination becomes less likely. Shrugging off the num- bers, Sanders, like Cruz, vowed to "fight hard as hard as we can for every vote." He called the Demo- cratic primary process "rigged," noting that he has won 45 percent of the pledged delegates awarded after prima- ries or caucuses, but only about 7 percent of super- delegates, the Democratic officials and party leaders who can support the can- didate of their choice. Still, Sanders showed no signs of letting up on Clinton, pointing to differ- ences with the former sec- retary of state over fund- raising, Goldman Sachs speeches, the Iraq war, fracking and the mini- mum wage. Polls show a close vote is likely. With Sanders strug- gling for traction, Cruz barnstormed Indiana with five stops on Monday alone in a desperate sprint for support alongside his lat- est high-profile supporter, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. "We need every single vote," he declared at Bravo Cafe in Osceola, where he predicted a tight finish the next day. Trump led by 15 points in an NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll conducted last week. That's even after Cruz took extraordinary steps to boost his chances in the state. He announced his pick for vice president last week, unveiling former businesswoman Carly Fio- rina as his running mate at an Indiana stop that ap- peared rushed. Days ear- lier, he declared alliance of sorts with Kasich in which the Ohio governor agreed to pull his advertising from Indiana airwaves. The strategy seemed to unravel even as it was an- nounced. And it may have backfired. The NBC poll found nearly 6 in 10 Indi- ana primary voters disap- proved of the Cruz-Kasich arrangement. Trump, for his part, held a pair of rallies in the state Monday. But he was already looking past Cruz and setting his sights on his likely Democratic op- ponent. "Indiana is very impor- tant, because if I win that's the end of it," Trump said at an unscheduled stop at Shapiro's Delicatessen in Indianapolis. Cr uz fi gh ts f or survival as Trump eyes Indiana knockout You're there for Mom. We're here for you. 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