This artist's concept shows what the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system may look like, based on available data about the planets' diameters, masses and distances from the host star, as of February 2018.NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA-supported researchers have reported that the planet TRAPPIST-1 c does not support a thick atmosphere based on data from NASA’s Webb telescope. Earlier this year, observations indicated that the planet closest to the TRAPPIST system’s star, the planet TRAPPIST-1 b, also is devoid of a significant atmosphere.
TRAPPIST-1 c is the second-closest planet to the star and scientists had speculated that it might have a dense atmosphere similar to Venus.
“It’s about the same size as Venus and receives a similar amount of radiation from its host star as Venus gets from the Sun,” co-author Laura Kreidberg of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy told Many Worlds.
With the new observations from Webb, the team of researchers believes that a dense, Venus-like atmosphere on TRAPPIST-1 c can now be ruled out.
Click here to read a post discussing the research results from Many Worlds.
The paper, “No thick carbon dioxide atmosphere on the rocky exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 c,” was published the journal Nature
Related:
What Webb is Learning About Exoplanet Atmospheres
The Many Worlds Blog chronicles the search for evidence of life beyond Earth written by author/journalist Marc Kaufman. The “Many Worlds” column is supported by the Lunar Planetary Institute/USRA and informed by NASA’s NExSS initiative, a research coordination network supported by the NASA Astrobiology Program. Any opinions expressed are the author’s alone.