The star at the center of the system was discovered in 1999 during the Two Micron All-Sky

Survey (2MASS).[17] It was entered in the subsequent catalog with the designation "2MASS
J23062928-0502285". The numbers refer to the right ascension and declination of the star's
position in the sky and the "J" refers to the Julian Epoch.

The system was later studied by a team at the University of Lige, who made their initial
observations using the Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small TelescopeSouth from
September to December 2015 and published their findings in the May 2016 issue of the journal
Nature.[12][4] The robotic telescope's acronym of TRAPPIST underscores the Belgian origins of
the project, denoting as it does the contemplative religious order of Trappists (the astronomers
celebrated their discovery with a round of the contemplatives' Trappist beer,[18] which they hold
in high regard).[19] Since the star hosted the first exoplanets discovered by this telescope, the
discoverers accordingly designated it as "TRAPPIST-1".

The planets are designated in the order of their discovery, beginning with b for the first planet
discovered, c for the second and so on.[20] Three planets around TRAPPIST-1 were first
discovered and designated b, c and d in order of increasing orbital periods,[4] and the second
batch of discoveries was similarly designated e to h.

On 23 February 2017, the discovery was celebrated with an animated Google Doodle created by
Nate Swinehart.[21]