Researchers using the James Webb Space Telescope shed light on the TRAPPIST-1 solar system, particularly planet TRAPPIST-1 b. The study emphasized the star's substantial influence on exoplanetary observations and the challenges of stellar contamination. In a solar system called TRAPPIST-1, 40 lig
The team, which included University of Michigan astronomer andAstrophysical Journal LettersThis artistic representation of the TRAPPIST-1 red dwarf star showcases its very active nature. The star appears to have many stellar spots and flares. The exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 b, the closest planet to the system’s central star, can be seen in the foreground with no apparent atmosphere.
This artist’s concept depicts the star TRAPPIST-1, an ultra-cool dwarf, that has seven Earth-sized planets orbiting it. Two of the planets were discovered in 2016 by TRAPPIST in Chile. NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and several ground-based telescopes uncovered five additional ones, increasing the total number to seven. The TRAPPIST-1 system is located about 40 light-years from Earth.
“These observations were made with the NIRISS instrument on JWST, built by an international collaboration led by René Doyon at the University of Montreal, under the auspices of the Canadian Space Agency over a period of nearly 20 years,” said Michael Meyer, University of Michigan professor of astronomy.
MacDonald played a key role in modeling the impact of the star and searching for an atmosphere in the team’s observations, running a series of millions of models to explore the full range of properties of cool starspots, hot star active regions, and planetary atmospheres that could explain the JWST observations the astronomers were seeing.
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