![Keck/NIRSPEC M -band spectrum of TRAPPIST-1 (black) with best-fit model (red). Top: echelle order 16 (λ ≈ 4.63–4.73 µm). Bottom: order 15 (λ ≈ 4.93–5.04 µm). Residuals (data minus model) are shown beneath each panel. Gray shading indicates the relative telluric transmission (dimensionless, 0–1). Masked pixels are omitted from the retrieval. -- [astro-ph.SR]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/The-Isotopic.png?fit=1200%2C681&ssl=1)
[astro-ph.SR]. Elemental and isotopic abundances are key tracers of planet formation, stellar evolution, and Galactic chemical evolution. Very low-mass stars are particularly interesting in this regard, because unlike more massive or evolved stars their photospheric abundances retain the star’s natal composition.
Cool dwarf spectra have historically been challenging to use for measurements of chemical abundances because of the blending of molecular and atomic features. However, recent advances in molecular line lists, atmospheric models, fitting techniques and IR spectrographs have enabled the successful measurement of elemental and isotopic ratios in a few dozen very low-mass stars.
Here, we present near-infrared high-resolution spectroscopy of TRAPPIST-1 covering the fundamental and overtone bands of carbon monoxide and its prominent isotopologues. From the joint analysis of the K-band (CFHT/SPIRou) and M-band (Keck/NIRSPEC) spectra, we derive the first stellar C/O ratio and the first carbon and oxygen isotope ratios for this star.
We obtain a metallicity of [M/H]=0.00±0.06, a C/O ratio of 0.60±0.02, 12C/13C=154+17−16, and 16O/18O=490+78−64. TRAPPIST-1 has generally solar-like elemental abundances, with a 12C/13C ratio that is higher than the solar value and may be modestly elevated relative to some nearby cool dwarfs at similar metallicity. While C/O is most tightly constrained by the K-band, the isotopic detections are driven by the M-band data.
Darío González Picos, Ian J.M. Crossfield, David Coria, Joshua Lothringer, Eric Gaidos, Elisabeth A.C. Mills, Sam de Regt, Donatella Romano, Ignas Snellen
Comments: 20 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal (ApJ)
Subjects: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR); Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
Cite as: arXiv:2608.26097 [astro-ph.SR] (or arXiv:2608.26097v1 [astro-ph.SR] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.26097
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Related DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae9bbc
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Submission history
From: Darío González Picos
[v1] Wed, 26 Aug 2026 17:58:03 UTC (5,455 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.26097
Astrobiology, exoplanet,
