TRAPPIST 1-e Archives - Page 3 of 5 - Astrobiology

Spectral fits to TRAPPIST-1 e’s stellar-contamination-corrected transmission spectrum. Top: bestfitting forward models for three different partial pressures of N2 and CH4 (solid, dotted, and dashed colored lines) compared to a flat line (dotted black line). Bottom: GP+atmosphere retrievals for the centered log-ratio prior (CLR; blue) and log-uniform priors with a ‘ghost’ background gas (gray) compared to a flat line (dotted black line). All models are plotted binned to the same spectral resolution as the data. The wavelengths of potential CH4 absorption bands are annotated. The corresponding corner plot is in Appendix E. The best-fitting forward models and both retrieval approaches independently identify spectral features tentatively attributed to CH4 features in a potentially N2-rich atmosphere. -- astro-ph.EP

Status Report, TRAPPIST-1

JWST-TST DREAMS: Secondary Atmosphere Constraints for the Habitable Zone Planet TRAPPIST-1 e

by Keith CowingSeptember 9, 2025September 9, 2025

The TRAPPIST-1 system offers one of the best opportunities to characterize temperate terrestrial planets beyond our own solar system. Within the TRAPPIST-1 system, planet e stands out as highly likely […]

White-light TRAPPIST-1 e JWST/NIRSpec PRISM transit light curves. (Top) Datapoints of the transit event (grey; binned at a cadence of 14-seconds) along with the best-fit transit plus systematics model (black; which includes a visit-long slope and a GP; see text for details). The date at which each observation was obtained is indicated at the top of each panel. (Middle) Residuals of the data minus the best-fit light curve model in parts-per-million (ppm); the root-mean-square of the data at this 14-second cadence is indicated for each observation. (Bottom) Light curves at the Hα line (0.656±0.02 µm, in parts per thousand; ppt) at the same cadence as the white-light curves (pale blue points), and binned at 5-minutes (solid blue points); note how a flare is revealed at about −0.25 hr in this light curve as the most likely explanation for the bump in the July 23, 2023 transit event. -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, TRAPPIST-1, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

JWST-TST DREAMS: NIRSpec/PRISM Transmission Spectroscopy of the Habitable Zone Planet TRAPPIST-1 e

by Keith CowingSeptember 9, 2025September 9, 2025

TRAPPIST-1 e is one of the very few rocky exoplanets that is both amenable to atmospheric characterization and that resides in the habitable zone of its star — located at […]

This artist’s concept depicts planet TRAPPIST-1 d passing in front of its turbulent star, with other members of the closely packed system shown in the background. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, J. Olmsted (STScI)

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, TRAPPIST-1

Webb Narrows Atmospheric Possibilities For Earth-sized Exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 d

by Keith CowingAugust 13, 2025August 13, 2025

The exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 d intrigues astronomers looking for possibly habitable worlds beyond our solar system because it is similar in size to Earth, rocky, and resides in an area around […]

Joint posterior constraints on the surface partial pressure of key atmospheric absorbers for atmospheric scenarios similar to solar system terrestrials, with N2 as the background gas. The color shadings correspond to the posterior probability mass, and the contours highlight the 68% and 95% confidence regions from the joint retrieval in each case. The absorber in the N2-background atmosphere is labeled in the top right corner of each panel. The dashed-dotted, dashed, and solid sienna lines correspond to an atmospheric surface pressure of 0.1, 1, and 10 bar. We illustrate where typical models of Archean Earth (AE), Modern Earth (ME), and compositions for Titan (T), early Mars (eMa), Mars (Ma), and Venus (V; Encrenaz & Coustenis 2018) approximately lie relative to our constraints for TRAPPIST-1 d. Star markers correspond to specific cloudy cases, where the planet is modeled as either cloudy or cloud-free (for Titan, Modern Earth, and Venus). For the N2-H2O case, we show as a black dotted line the limit of pressures that would be cut off by refraction in a 11 bar atmosphere (10 bar H2O+1 bar N2). For thinner atmospheres, the impact of refraction on atmosphere detectability is even weaker. -- astro-ph.EP

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

Strict Limits On Potential Secondary Atmospheres On The Temperate Rocky Exo-Earth TRAPPIST-1 d

by Keith CowingAugust 13, 2025August 13, 2025

The nearby TRAPPIST-1 system, with its seven small rocky planets orbiting a late-type M8 star, offers an unprecedented opportunity to search for secondary atmospheres on temperate terrestrial worlds.

Stellar flares observed in JWST/NIRISS time-series spectroscopy of TRAPPIST-1. Each column shows one flare event during transits of the TRAPPIST-1c or TRAPPIST-1f planets. Tow row: Light curves with the total flux (integrated over the full spectral range and normalized to the mean out-of-transit flux). Colored points indicate pre-flare (green), flare (orange), maximum flare light (red), and post-flare (blue) phases. Green and blue dashed lines mark the average pre- and post-flare flux levels. Middle row: Light curves of the normalized Hα flux. Bottom row: Time-resolved spectrograms (wavelength vs. time) normalized to the pre-flare spectrum. The shaded blue region shows the drop in flux caused by the planetary transit. For comparison, the time axis in all panels are aligned such that t = 0 corresponds to the beginning of the maximum flare light phase. In all four events, the total flux in the post-flare phase is systematically elevated relative to the pre-flare level. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Magnetic Fields, Electromagnetism, bioelectricity,, Press Release, Radiation, Space Weather & Heliophysics, TRAPPIST-1

Flares On TRAPPIST-1 Reveal The Spectrum Of Magnetic Features On Its Surface

by Keith CowingAugust 8, 2025August 8, 2025

TRAPPIST-1 is an M8 dwarf hosting seven known exoplanets and is currently one of the most frequently observed targets of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

For simulated transit observations, the GlobES app performs RT calculations across the terminator and integrates the different spectra employing equal weights. For direct imaging and secondary eclipse simulations, the algorithm performs RT simulations across the whole observable disk, and the individual spectra are integrated considering the projected area of each bin. An example of surface temperature maps at various phase angles from Suissa et al. (2020) produced from the ExoCAM GCM (Wolf et al., 2022) are also shown. -- astro-ph.EP

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report

From Global Climate Models (GCMs) to Exoplanet Spectra with the Global Emission Spectra (GlobES)

by Keith CowingJuly 16, 2025September 18, 2025

In the quest to understand the climates and atmospheres of exoplanets, 3D global climate models (GCMs) have become indispensable.

Atmospheric speciation of TRAPPIST-1e at 280 K above a planetary surface with stable condensates for atmospheres originally in equilibrium with a fully molten mantle. In all panels, the curve colours correspond to the gas species listed in the legend and condensate masses are relative to Earth oceans (EO). Upper panels show the percentage of models by dominant species (VMR > 50%) that satisfy the requirement of a minimum mass of (a) Water, (b) Graphite, (c) α-sulfur, and (d) Ammonium chloride. Lower panels illustrate the composition and total pressure of the atmosphere for (e) CO2-rich above a water ocean, (f) CH4-rich above graphite, (g) CO2-rich above α-sulfur, and (h) CH4-rich above ammonium chloride. Median values are indicated by lines and shaded regions bracket the first and third quartiles. Compare to the atmospheric speciation derived from a partially molten mantle in Figure A5. -- astro-ph.EP

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

Diversity of Rocky Planet Atmospheres In The C-H-O-N-S-Cl System With Interior Dissolution, Non-ideality, and Condensation: Application to TRAPPIST-1e and Sub-Neptunes

by Keith CowingJuly 6, 2025July 6, 2025

A quantitative understanding of the nature and composition of low-mass rocky exo(planet) atmospheres during their evolution is needed to interpret observations.

Habitable Exoplanet - NASA

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Status Report, TRAPPIST-1, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Characterizing Exoplanets For Assessing Their Potential Habitability

by Keith CowingJune 27, 2025June 27, 2025

The Statistical-likelihood Exoplanetary Habitability Index (SEPHI) serves as a valuable tool for prioritizing targets for further study and identifying potentially habitable environments.

This schematic depicts the set-up of the volatile exchange during initialization (t=0) and run time. For initialization, a surface temperature of 4000 K and a completely molten magma ocean is assumed, where the dissolved volatiles are in balance with the outgassed volatile content, set by the volatile melt fraction Fi . As the magma ocean solidifies, part of the volatile budget is deposited in the solid mantle. Further, atmospheric escape can remove H2O. These two sink terms thus reduce the amount of a volatile available in the fully coupled magma ocean-atmosphere system Mmoa i . The full overview of all included processes, including radiogenic heating, is shown in Barth et al. (2021, Fig. 1) -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Press Release, TRAPPIST-1

From CO2- to H2O-dominated Atmospheres And Back — How Mixed Outgassing Changes The Volatile Distribution In Magma Oceans Around M Dwarf Stars [TRAPPIST-1]

by Keith CowingMay 24, 2025May 24, 2025

We investigate the impact of CO2 on TRAPPIST-1 e, f and g during the magma ocean stage. These potentially habitable rocky planets are currently the most accessible for astronomical observations.

Temporal medians of ’Extreme’, ’Moderate’, and ’Quiescent’ simulations for Temperature (T in K). Medians are taken from 8 years and for (a) 1.223 × 10−5 mbar and (b) 0.008 mbar atmospheric levels. Extreme and Moderate medians are only taken for days when flares occur. Stippling uses a two-tailed Wilcoxon rank-sum test to represent ’Extreme’ and ’Moderate’ areas that are not statistically different from the ’Quiescent’ one at p

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Space Weather & Heliophysics, Status Report, Stellar Cartography, TRAPPIST-1, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Effects of Transient Stellar Emissions On Planetary Climates Of Tidally-locked Exo-earths

by Keith CowingMay 7, 2025May 7, 2025

Space weather events in planetary environments sourced from transient host star emissions, including stellar flares, coronal mass ejections, and stellar proton events, can substantially influence an exoplanet’s climate and atmospheric […]