In the past, Hubble and the Spitzer Space Telescope scoured the Trappist system for atmospheres, but without definitive results. Launched in late 2021 to an observation post 1 million miles away, Webb is considered the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, which has been orbiting Earth for more than three decades. “With rocky exoplanets, we are in uncharted territory” since scientists’ understanding is based on the four rocky planets of our solar system, Gillon said. Science & Medicine TRAPPIST-1 planets are rocky and have complex atmospheres, new studies showĬould the TRAPPIST-1 star system host a life-friendly planet?įurther research could still uncover an atmosphere of sorts, even if it’s not exactly like what’s seen on Earth, said Michael Gillon of the University of Liege in Belgium, who was part of the team that discovered the first three Trappist planets in 2016. Looking at this particular planet in another wavelength could uncover an atmosphere much thinner than our own, although it seems unlikely it could survive, said Taylor Bell of the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, who was part of the study. More observations are planned not only of this planet, but the others in the Trappist system. The change in brightness was minuscule since the Trappist star is more than 1,000 times brighter than this planet, so Webb’s detection of it “is itself a major milestone,” the European Space Agency said. and French scientists were able to measure the change in brightness as the innermost planet moved behind its star and estimate how much infrared light was emitted from the planet. Using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, an international team of scientists has tracked two planets crossing in front of the same star at the same time - discovering that these worlds are both rocky and have comparatively thin atmospheres.īy using Webb - the largest and most powerful telescope ever sent into space - the U.S. Science & Medicine Two for one: Hubble picks out pair of Earth-sized planets’ atmospheres
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