James Webb extinguishes hopes for a new Earth in the largest exoplanet system in our galaxy (video)

TRAPPIST-1 is a very young, relatively cool “M dwarf” star and is the most common type of star in the universe. The star located 39 light years from Earth has only 9% of the mass of the Sun. TRAPPIST-1 is home to the largest and most impressive planetary system yet discovered in our galaxy.

Seven exoplanets have been spotted there so far, all about the size of Earth, and three of them are estimated to be in the system’s so-called habitable zone, which is the region of space around a star where a rocky planet could have liquid water in it and so its surface is likely to be host to life. As expected, the scientific community has turned the most powerful space telescope ever built by mankind on the TRAPPIST-1 system with the goal of finding out if any of these planets have atmospheres, which is also a key requirement for the development of life-friendly conditions.

Previous research by James Webb on the system’s closest planet to the star, TRAPPIST-1b, showed that it lacks an atmosphere, but due to its proximity to the star and the very high temperatures that develop there, scientists considered it to have no atmosphere. Something very likely if not almost certain.

with Publishing In the journal “Nature”, a research team led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany reports that James Webb failed to detect the atmosphere even on the system’s second inner planet, TRAPPIST-1c, which disappointed the researchers. And the scientific community in general after they waited.

Of course, research into this particular planetary system will continue until all of its planets have been studied. In fact, a study conducted by scientists at the University of Washington in Seattle indicates that it is possible that the fourth and fifth planets at a distance from the star have atmospheres because the distance separating them from the star allows them to exist.

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