Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have confirmed that the planet TRAPPIST-1b probably has no atmosphere. Researchers are excited to use the new telescope to explore her six brothers orbiting a star that’s about the size of Earth and 12 parsecs (39 light years) away from Earth. This system is a unique laboratory for studying how environmental conditions arise on planets and how they become suitable for life.
In November and December of last year, JWST searched the atmosphere by looking for heat emitted from TRAPPIST-1b. The telescope’s ability to study the infrared “allows us to actually measure the brightness of planets,” says astronomer Thomas Greene of his NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. He and his colleagues reported the results on March 27. Nature.
While this discovery may sound disappointing to those with atmospheric aspirations, the scientists believe the study demonstrates the transformative power of JWST, leading to more results from the TRAPPIST-1 system. said to open the door to
Previous studies by the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes, using a different technique, have shown that TRAPPIST-1b — the system’s innermost planet — probably does not have a large, puffy atmosphere made mostly of hydrogen. was shown. But the researchers couldn’t rule out whether it had a dense atmosphere, as it’s possible that Earth had a dense atmosphere billions of years ago.
planetary research institute
JWST examined TRAPPIST-1 in mid-infrared wavelength light to see how its emission changes as TRAPPIST-1b moves behind the star. By measuring the brightness of stars and planets compared to the brightness of the star alone, astronomers were able to calculate how much came from the planet.
Had TRAPPIST-1b had an atmosphere, it would have recycled energy absorbed from the star, making it appear no brighter than Greene and his colleagues measured. Observations did not reveal any terrestrial carbon dioxide that JWST could have found.
It’s no surprise that TRAPPIST-1b has no atmosphere. Because she receives four times the amount of radiation that the Earth receives from the Sun. TRAPPIST-1 can also be disrupted by stellar flares and other activity, sending radiation throughout the planet and washing out the atmosphere. Still, understanding these conditions is very important because M dwarfs (cold, dim stars such as TRAPPIST-1) often have Earth-sized planets orbiting them.
An important early step in studying the TRAPPIST-1 system is harnessing the power of the JWST to understand the stars themselves, says Julien de Wit, an exoplanet researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. increase. I know your planet Astronomers will need to work together to study his TRAPPIST-1 at JWST using multiple techniques to understand the star as fully as possible, he says. Otherwise, researchers will have a hard time interpreting what they are seeing in planetary observations.
There are bound to be more discoveries. Other research teams are using her JWST to study her TRAPPIST-1b and other planets in the system. This includes his TRAPPIST-1c, which is TRAPPIST-1b’s neighbor. TRAPPIST-1c is a planet close enough to its star for JWST to study its brilliance. Publications on all of these are coming soon.
This article is reproduced with permission and was first published on March 27, 2023.
