#trappist

Can you imagine seven Earth-sized, rocky planets orbiting a red dwarf star? Such a system exists, which is known as TRAPPIST-1, and it’s only 40 light-years away.

Multiple space telescopes, including Spitzer and Hubble, have studied this system across different wavelengths of light. And now the James Webb Space Telescope, with its infrared sensitivity and spectroscopic capabilities, is unlocking a new exciting chapter of the TRAPPIST-1 story. With Webb, astronomers are obtaining details about the atmospheric conditions of these planets for the first time, improving their understanding of these intriguing worlds.

What have we learned so far with Webb? And what do we still not know? Get up to speed on the scientific tale of the TRAPPIST-1 system, a story that is still underway.

Emissary to the Red Dwarf

Les racines françaises du fromage québécois le plus célèbre

Le 18 février 1893 débarque au Canada le frère Alphonse Juin. Originaire de France, il a d'abord officié à l'abbaye de Port-du-Salut, qui a acquis une réputation internationale pour son fameux Port-Salut.

Amenant avec lui la recette de ce précieux fromage à pâte demi-ferme, le frère Juin fait la fortune de l'abbaye d'Oka qui vivait à ce moment une période financière difficile : «Tout le monde demande mon fromage, s'étonne le frère Juin, que vais-je faire ? Il ne m'en reste presque plus dans les caves ?»

In two separate papers published Monday in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, astronomers zeroed in on the TRAPPIST-1 system, which consists of seven rocky planets that orbit a single star. Both studies outlined initial results from observations by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, suggesting that one planet in particular, known as TRAPPIST-1e, may have a nitrogen-rich atmosphere like Earth’s,…

Eyeball Earths: 

Imagine an alien planet with a circular ocean on one side, like a glistening watery iris staring into space. Scientists theorize there could be billions of these “Eyeball Earths” out there.

In the right conditions, some planets become “tidally locked” to their star, causing one half of the planet to permanently face the sun.

Some of these planets will orbit in a Goldilocks zone, causing a warm water ocean to form on the sun-facing side, resulting in a planet that resembles a human eye.

Other tidally locked planets closer to their star may form oceans on the night-facing side, forming oceans that stare into the darkness of space.

40 light years away, the planet Trappist 1-F is a candidate for such a planet. With the recent launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, we are one step closer to discovering mythical worlds like these, bringing them from the realms of imagination into reality.