Does this change theories around how gaseous clouds eventually formed stars and solar systems?
JWST's first spectrum of a TRAPPIST-1 planet
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Re: JWST's first spectrum of a TRAPPIST-1 planet
#12> cloud-free, hydrogen-rich atmospheres were ruled out with high confidence. This means that there appears to be no clear, extended atmosphere around TRAPPIST-1 b I will never not be amazed that we can read the atmospheric spectra of exoplanets.
Spectroscopy. [1] The most amazing thing about it is how simple it really is. Each element has a unique absorption/emission scheme for 'light' / electromagnetic radiation. So light radiated from a body will have tell tale missing segments when broken down into its spectrum, absorbed by the atmosphere it passed through.
Think about how light passed through a prism splits from white light into its rainbow colored components. It's the exact same thing. All you need to do is see what's missing, and you can discern the elemental composition of the atmosphere[s] that said light passed through. And it all started with Newton playing with a prism, and thinking beyond 'my, what pretty colors.'
The really cool thing about this is that it also can tell you some things that defy 'common knowledge.' For instance the Moon actually has a persistent atmosphere, and it's made out of sodium! It's exceptionally thin, but it's there - and can be picked up by spectroscopy.
[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_spectroscopy
Re: JWST's first spectrum of a TRAPPIST-1 planet
#13Given how much we know now about how inhospitable red dwarf star systems are, why are we continuing to focus on planets in such systems instead of planets in sun like stars?
because you need 3 transits for a positive detection of a exoplanet. And given that the habitable planet around a sun like star is anything from 250 - 700 days the observation time is too expensive so they focus on red dwarfs instead. I also find it pretty annoying as well, especially when science communicators try and extrapolate observations on red dwarfs on what is typical extrasolar system.
Re: JWST's first spectrum of a TRAPPIST-1 planet
#14Now I can't wait for European Extremely Large Telescope with several times the resolution (also the space Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope)
btw PBS Nova has an awesome episode on JWST, how hard it was to get built and how it almost didn't get built because massively over budget ($10 Billion!)
https://www.pbs.org/video/ultimate-space-telescope-gunryt/
This is kind of a "part 2" follow-up after it was launched and "first light"
Re: JWST's first spectrum of a TRAPPIST-1 planet
#15Given how much we know now about how inhospitable red dwarf star systems are, why are we continuing to focus on planets in such systems instead of planets in sun like stars?
Baja has a great point, but I think another one beyond the transit time is relative size.
Unless there's a jovian planet with life out there your best bet at measuring a regular sized planet is around a small stars. Dwarfs.
When we had our massive planet surveys measuring transits we found a shit ton of jovian's around stars and some earth sized planets around smaller stars.
Time to measure transit and relative size are king.
Re: JWST's first spectrum of a TRAPPIST-1 planet
#16Given how much we know now about how inhospitable red dwarf star systems are, why are we continuing to focus on planets in such systems instead of planets in sun like stars?
What makes them inhospitable? Tidal locking?
Re: JWST's first spectrum of a TRAPPIST-1 planet
#17Given how much we know now about how inhospitable red dwarf star systems are, why are we continuing to focus on planets in such systems instead of planets in sun like stars?
"The discovery of the TRAPPIST-1 planets drew widespread attention in major world newspapers, social media, streaming television and websites.[302][303] As of 2017, the discovery of TRAPPIST-1 led to the largest single-day web traffic to the NASA website.[304] NASA started a public campaign on Twitter to find names for the planets, which drew responses of varying seriousness, although the names of the planets will be decided by the International Astronomical Union.[305]"
From the wiki on Trappist 1 - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRAPPIST-1
I think the public interest in it might be driving it? 40 light years is also kinda near to us, which might make it more interesting than Sun like systems if these are 100+ light years for example, if we were to want to do something about a possible detection.
Edit0: We don't know much of what conditions drive the genesis of life or where it might survive, so I'm not entirely sure that looking at red dwarves are a waste of time in a search for life.
They are also doing fundamental work in clearing up the influence of the star on their measurements!
Re: JWST's first spectrum of a TRAPPIST-1 planet
#18Given how much we know now about how inhospitable red dwarf star systems are, why are we continuing to focus on planets in such systems instead of planets in sun like stars?
Is it really zero sum? Is there a backlog of planets in sun-like systems that we’re ignoring in favor of this?
Re: JWST's first spectrum of a TRAPPIST-1 planet
#19Given how much we know now about how inhospitable red dwarf star systems are, why are we continuing to focus on planets in such systems instead of planets in sun like stars?
because you need 3 transits for a positive detection of a exoplanet. And given that the habitable planet around a sun like star is anything from 250 - 700 days the observation time is too expensive so they focus on red dwarfs instead. I also find it pretty annoying as well, especially when science communicators try and extrapolate observations on red dwarfs on what is typical extrasolar system.
Red dwarf systems are the typical extrasolar system though. The vast majority of stars in this galaxy are red dwarfs.
Re: JWST's first spectrum of a TRAPPIST-1 planet
#20Given how much we know now about how inhospitable red dwarf star systems are, why are we continuing to focus on planets in such systems instead of planets in sun like stars?
What makes them inhospitable? Tidal locking?
There's also the possibility of super flares from red dwarves.
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/superflares-from-yo...
https://earthsky.org/space/red-dwarf-stars-superflares-red-d...
https://www.space.com/red-dwarfs-activity-bad-news-alien-lif...
https://interestingengineering.com/science/red-dwarfs-superf...
From the last one:
> The magnetic fields' arrangement and intensity are responsible for areas of intense activity on the solar surface. For our Sun, these areas appear darker and are called sunspots, which have been found to occur in areas where solar flares are released.
> Solar flares from red dwarfs previously measured can be 100-1,000 times more potent than those released by our Sun. In 2019, Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf, let out a flare 14,000 times brighter than its pre-flare brightness.
> Solar flares are sometimes followed by hot plasma sent out from the star called coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Its scorching temperatures can blow strip away the atmospheres of planets and even boil away liquid water from the planet's surface, reducing the likelihood of it hosting life.
(Tangent to the tangent - https://youtu.be/FF_e5eYgJ3Y is a neat video - Close Encounter with a CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) :: On Sept. 5, 2022, NASA's Parker Solar Probe was about to make its 13th close approach to the Sun when a coronal mass ejection (CME) -- a powerful explosion of magnetic fields and plasma -- erupted right in front of it. ... )