TRAPPIST-1 Archives

The transmission spectrum atmospheric effective altitude is plotted against wavelength between 0.2 µm and 11 µm for the P19 PI (orange), P19 10% PAL (brown), P19 1% PAL (yellow), and P19 0.1% PAL (red) simulations, and the W21 PI (light blue), W21 10% PAL (blue), W21 1% PAL (lilac), and W21 0.1% PAL (grey) simulations. The non-tidally locked cases are excluded for clarity, but show little differences compared to the equivalent tidally locked case. The transit depth, in terms of contrast with respect to the star, is indicated on the right vertical axis in parts per million (ppm). The spectra are binned to a spectral resolving power of R = 250. Spectral features are indicated in grey. The wavelength range of the proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO; blue shaded region), and that of the JWST NIRSpec instrument (yellow shaded region), are shown. They overlap in the green shaded region. The wavelength range of the JWST MIRI instrument is indicated in the magenta shaded region. The wavelength spacing between 0.2 – 1 µm is changed between 1 – 11 µm in order to clearly show the UV and visible regions. The black bar represents the uncertainty that would be present on a measurement that has reached the noise floor of the instrument, where the noise floor is indicated as 5 ppm. Note this error bar is an estimate of the performance of the telescope and does not indicate a measurement. -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, TRAPPIST-1

Degenerate Interpretations Of O3 Spectral Features In Exoplanet Atmosphere Observations Due To Stellar UV Uncertainties: A 3D Case Study With TRAPPIST-1e

by Keith CowingOctober 1, 2023October 1, 2023

TRAPPIST-1e is a potentially habitable terrestrial exoplanet orbiting an ultra-cool M Dwarf star and is a key target for observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). One-dimensional photochemical modelling […]

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, TRAPPIST-1

JWST Insights Into The Atmosphere Of Exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 b And The Star TRAPPIST-1

by Keith CowingSeptember 25, 2023September 25, 2023

Astronomers led by a team at Université de Montréal has made important progress in understanding the intriguing TRAPPIST-1 exoplanetary system, which was first discovered in 2016 amid speculation it could […]

Water cloud horizontal and vertical distributions. Water cloud column (a) in latitude vs longitude coordinates and (b) tidallylocked coordinates (b). Water cloud content vertical distribution (c) as a function of tidally-locked latitude (averaged over all tidallylocked longitudes). The plots were computed for an initially hot and steamy 2 R⊕ planet (with a 10 bar of H2O + 1 bar of N2 atmosphere) synchronously rotating (fixed rotation period of 60 Earth days) around a M3 star, and forced to an ISR of 500 W m−2 (simulation M3-YANG-1). The outputs were averaged over 250 Earth days. For reference, insolation is 340.5 W m−2 on present-day Earth. Wind fields are superimposed on the plots. Winds are plotted at a pressure of ∼ 50 Pa in panels a and b, and averaged over all tidally-locked (TL) longitudes in panel c. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Status Report, TRAPPIST-1, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Water Condensation Zones Around Main Sequence Stars

by Keith CowingAugust 29, 2023August 29, 2023

Understanding the set of conditions that allow rocky planets to have liquid water on their surface — in the form of lakes, seas or oceans — is a major scientific […]

Typical time evolution for the four planets of the resonant chain of Kepler-80 (d, e, b, and c) with Q ′ = 0.05 and physical parameters from Table 1. In the top left panel the eccentricities, in the top right panel the mean-motion ratios of adjacent planets, in the bottom left panel the two-body resonant angles and in the bottom right panel the three-body resonant angles. -- astro-ph.EP

Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report, TRAPPIST-1

Tidal Interactions Shape Period Ratios In Planetary Systems With Three-body Resonant Chains

by Keith CowingAugust 16, 2023

These last years several Systems with Tightly packed Inner Planets in the super-Earth mass regime have been discovered harboring chains of resonances. It is generally believed that planet pairs get […]

Brightness temperature spectra for the dayside hemisphere of selected modeled environments for TRAPPIST-1 c with JWST with points corresponding to the model spectra convolved to the F1500W filter band, over the full-wide half-max of the band’s wavelength extent (horizontal error bars). We also show the data point measured by Zieba et al. (2023), along with lines corresponding to blackbody temperatures for day-side with zero heat redistribution (dark grey dashed) and for a blackbody with perfect heat redistribution (light gray dashed). The best fit atmospheres are the 0.1 bar, O2-dominated atmospheres, at 0.5–1.0σ from the measured eclipse depth. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, TRAPPIST-1

Potential Atmospheric Compositions of TRAPPIST-1 c constrained by JWST/MIRI Observations At 15 μm

by Keith CowingAugust 14, 2023August 14, 2023

The first JWST observations of TRAPPIST-1 c showed a secondary eclipse depth of 421+/-94 ppm at 15 um, which is consistent with a bare rock surface or a thin, O2-dominated, […]

Some calculated properties from the slowing down of photoelectrons. Top: Fraction of the photoelectron initial energy E0 that is transferred to the gas in elastic collisions. Bottom: Number of secondary ions created by a photoelectron of initial energy E0, normalized by E0. The three color-style combinations refer to pure H (black, long dashed), pure O (black, dotted), and an O-H mixture with fOn/Hn=1/2 (blue, solid). For each mixture, the four curves that are displayed (distinguishable by their thickness) refer to fractional ionizations log10(xe)=−1 (thickest), −2, −3, and −4 (thinnest). Although not shown for the sake of clarity, the Eelas/E0 ratio for E0≳100 eV for pure H becomes essentially independent of fractional ionization at xe

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, TRAPPIST-1, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Heating And Ionization By Non-thermal Electrons In The Upper Atmospheres Of Water-rich Exoplanets

by Keith CowingAugust 14, 2023August 14, 2023

Context. The long-term evolution of an atmosphere and the remote detectability of its chemical constituents are susceptible to how the atmospheric gas responds to stellar irradiation. The response remains poorly […]

Spectral S/N comparison between ESO's ELT spectroscopic ETC and Imber using the same methodology. For comparison, a 1500 K object with an apparent J magnitude of 15 was used with a 300 s exposure. The spectral S/N were output in the L band to demonstrate Imber's ability to scale apparent magnitudes based on input spectra and to demonstrate performance in a similar band as ELT/METIS. Vertical axis is logarithmic. -- Astrophysical Journal

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Press Release, Space Weather & Heliophysics, TRAPPIST-1

Using Cosmic Weather To Study Which Worlds Could Support Life

by Keith CowingJuly 29, 2023July 29, 2023

As the next generation of giant, high-powered observatories begin to come online, a new study suggests that their instruments may offer scientists an unparalleled opportunity to discern what weather may […]

Median temperature (K) differences between high and low pCO2 scenarios and median wind speeds (m s−1) for each scenario for Earth-like (a, c) and TRAPPIST-1e (b, d) ExoCAM simulations at (a, b) upper and (c, d) near-surface levels. Black and green quivers represent the high and low pCO2 scenarios, respectively. Using the Wilcoxon Rank-Sum test, lime and magenta-filled contours for wind speed and temperature represent areas not statistically significant at the 5% level, respectively. -- The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Press Release, TRAPPIST-1

Greenhouse Gas Supplement Increases Warming And Alters Circulation Patterns On Earth and Earth-like Exoplanets

by Keith CowingJuly 13, 2023July 13, 2023

With the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the study of exoplanetary atmospheres and their potential habitability reached new heights. A team of researchers led by Dr. Assaf […]

Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report, TRAPPIST-1

Composition Constraints Of The TRAPPIST-1 Planets From Their Formation

by Keith CowingJuly 13, 2023July 13, 2023

We study the formation of the TRAPPIST-1 (T1) planets starting shortly after Moon-sized bodies form just exterior to the ice line. Our model includes mass growth from pebble accretion and […]

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, TRAPPIST-1

Analogous Response Of Temperate Terrestrial Exoplanets And Earth’s Climate Dynamics To Greenhouse Gas Supplement

by Keith CowingJuly 6, 2023July 6, 2023

Humanity is close to characterizing the atmospheres of rocky exoplanets due to the advent of JWST. These astronomical observations motivate us to understand exoplanetary atmospheres to constrain habitability.

TRAPPIST-1

Degenerate Interpretations Of O3 Spectral Features In Exoplanet Atmosphere Observations Due To Stellar UV Uncertainties: A 3D Case Study With TRAPPIST-1e

JWST Insights Into The Atmosphere Of Exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 b And The Star TRAPPIST-1

Water Condensation Zones Around Main Sequence Stars

Tidal Interactions Shape Period Ratios In Planetary Systems With Three-body Resonant Chains

Potential Atmospheric Compositions of TRAPPIST-1 c constrained by JWST/MIRI Observations At 15 μm

Heating And Ionization By Non-thermal Electrons In The Upper Atmospheres Of Water-rich Exoplanets

Using Cosmic Weather To Study Which Worlds Could Support Life

Greenhouse Gas Supplement Increases Warming And Alters Circulation Patterns On Earth and Earth-like Exoplanets

Composition Constraints Of The TRAPPIST-1 Planets From Their Formation

Analogous Response Of Temperate Terrestrial Exoplanets And Earth’s Climate Dynamics To Greenhouse Gas Supplement

The Role Of Minerals In Prebiotic Evolution: Implications For Identifying Worlds With The Potential For Life’s Origin

Gen-EBM: An Energy Balance Model For Terrestrial Planets. Climate Multistability From Snowball To Post-runaway Greenhouse Climates

Astrometric Planet Search Around Southern Ultracool Dwarfs: V. Discovery Of The Exoplanet Candidate PALTA-1 b

Hubble Space Telescope Observations of Active Asteroid (101955) Bennu

SOPHIE And TESS Characterization Of Fourteen TESS Objects Of Interest: Nine Planetary Systems And Five Low-mass Stellar Companions