The exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 d intrigues astronomers looking for possibly habitable worlds beyond our solar system because it is similar in size to Earth, rocky, and resides in an area around its star where liquid water on its surface is theoretically possible. But according to a new study using data from the NASA\/ESA\/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, it does not have an Earth-like atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A protective atmosphere, a friendly Sun, and lots of liquid water \u2014 Earth is a special place. Using the unprecedented capabilities of the Webb, astronomers are on a mission to determine just how special, and rare, our home planet is. Can this temperate environment exist elsewhere, even around a different type of star? The TRAPPIST-1 system provides a tantalizing opportunity to explore this question, as it contains seven Earth-sized worlds orbiting the most common type of star in the galaxy: a red dwarf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUltimately, we want to know if something like the environment we enjoy on Earth can exist elsewhere, and under what conditions. While the James Webb Space Telescope is giving us the ability to explore this question in Earth-sized planets for the first time, at this point we can rule out TRAPPIST-1 d from a list of potential Earth twins or cousins,\u201d said Caroline Piaulet-Ghorayeb of the University of Chicago and Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets (IREx) at Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al, lead author of the study published in The Astrophysical Journal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Planet TRAPPIST-1 d<\/strong> Webb\u2019s NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) instrument did not detect molecules from TRAPPIST-1 d that are common in Earth\u2019s atmosphere, like water, methane, or carbon dioxide. However, Piaulet-Ghorayeb outlined several possibilities for the exoplanet that remain open for follow-up study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere are a few potential reasons why we don\u2019t detect an atmosphere around TRAPPIST-1 d. It could have an extremely thin atmosphere that is difficult to detect, somewhat like Mars. Alternatively, it could have very thick, high-altitude clouds that are blocking our detection of specific atmospheric signatures \u2014 something more like Venus. Or, it could be a barren rock, with no atmosphere at all,\u201d Piaulet-Ghorayeb said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The star TRAPPIST-1<\/strong> \u201cWebb\u2019s sensitive infrared instruments are allowing us to delve into the atmospheres of these smaller, colder planets for the first time,\u201d said Bj\u00f6rn Benneke of IREx at Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al, a co-author of the study. \u201cWe\u2019re really just getting started using Webb to look for atmospheres on Earth-sized planets, and to define the line between planets that can hold onto an atmosphere, and those that cannot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The outer TRAPPIST-1 planets<\/strong> \u201cAll hope is not lost for atmospheres around the TRAPPIST-1 planets,\u201d Piaulet-Ghorayeb said. \u201cWhile we didn\u2019t find a big, bold atmospheric signature at planet d, there is still potential for the outer planets to be holding onto a lot of water and other atmospheric components.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur detective work is just beginning. While TRAPPIST-1 d may prove a barren rock illuminated by a cruel red star, the outer planets TRAPPIST-1e, f, g, and h, may yet possess thick atmospheres,” added Ryan MacDonald, a co-author of the paper, now at the University of St Andrews in the United Kingdom, and previously at the University of Michigan. \u201cThanks to Webb we now know that TRAPPIST-1 d is a far cry from a hospitable world. We’re learning that the Earth is even more special in the cosmos.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 d intrigues astronomers looking for possibly habitable worlds beyond our solar…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2908,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-space-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spacepreneurmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spacepreneurmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spacepreneurmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacepreneurmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacepreneurmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2907"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacepreneurmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2909,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacepreneurmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2907\/revisions\/2909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacepreneurmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spacepreneurmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacepreneurmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacepreneurmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
The TRAPPIST-1 system is located 40 light-years away and was revealed as the record-holder for most Earth-sized rocky planets around a single star in 2017, thanks to data from NASA\u2019s retired Spitzer Space Telescope and other observatories. Due to that star being a dim, relatively cold red dwarf, the \u201chabitable zone\u201d \u2013 where the planet\u2019s temperature may be just right, such that liquid surface water is possible \u2013 lies much closer to the star than in our solar system. TRAPPIST-1 d, the third planet from the red dwarf star, lies on the cusp of that temperate zone, yet its distance to its star is only 2 percent of Earth\u2019s distance from the Sun. TRAPPIST-1 d completes an entire orbit around its star, its year, in only four Earth days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No matter what the case may be for TRAPPIST-1 d, it\u2019s tough being a planet in orbit around a red dwarf star. TRAPPIST-1, the host star of the system, is known to be volatile, often releasing flares of high-energy radiation with the potential to strip off the atmospheres of its small planets, especially those orbiting most closely. Nevertheless, scientists are motivated to seek signs of atmospheres on the TRAPPIST-1 planets because red dwarf stars are the most common stars in our galaxy. If planets can hold on to an atmosphere here, under waves of harsh stellar radiation, they could, as the saying goes, make it anywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Webb observations of the outer TRAPPIST-1 planets are ongoing, which hold both potential and peril. On the one hand, Benneke said, planets e, f, g, and h may have better chances of having atmospheres because they are further away from the energetic eruptions of their host star. However, their distance and colder environment will make atmospheric signatures more difficult to detect, even with Webb\u2019s infrared instruments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n