Joy

spent years searching for planets that could serve as a Earth 2in 2015 it happened. Thanks to the TRAPPIST telescope, we discovered an ultra-cool dwarf star which had three planets around it. They published the discovery in 2016, but a year later it was concrete that in the system there was a total of seven Earth-sized planets. It was clear: we had to continue investigating because there were options for one to harbor life. TRAPPIST-1 (because a way of naming the findings it is with the name of the telescope) became the “holy grail” of extraterrestrial life. The star is 40 light years away and three of its planets are estimated to be in the “habitable zone.” This is the segment with the ideal conditions for life to prosper. The initial enthusiasm was justified: they were small planets, they were not gas giantsand the star is so faint that the temperate zone of the system would favor those ideal conditions. Different climate models pointed out that only a small greenhouse effect would be needed for any of them to be able to house liquid water on their surface. but the same James Webb telescopewhat youit is giving us so much joyis the one who has unmounted almost completely the narrative of TRAPPIST-1 as a system in which to search for life. And in less than a decade, these planets have gone from being the most promising place in our cosmic block to being just another rocky exoplanet. James Webb lowering the soufflé There are multiple reasons why we look for extraterrestrial life. There are the philosophical reasons, the well-worn question of whether we are alone in the universe. Then the scientists, eager to find life to understand how much organisms can endure in other conditionsunderstand the origin and evolution of the universe and even compare ourselves with them. And the practices: experiment in other environments, get resources and to a new home. The telescopes with which we observe the system are good for that first exploration, but more recently the task was left in the hands of one of the most powerful we have, the James Webb Space Telescopeor JWST. The result of an international megaproject is not on earth, but on a satellite, which allows sharpness and detail of the observed objectives unattainable for terrestrial telescopes. And when we have pointed the JWST at TRAPPIST-1, the soufflé has been deflated. His work has focused on the inner planets, known as TRAPPIST-1b, c and d. The conclusion is thatTheir habitability is complicated due to the lack of atmosphere or one so “thin” that it would not protect the planet well against the star’s radiation, also implying surfaces so hot that they would not be compatible with life. Any hint of atmosphere that was initially observed is now practically ruled out. As we read in spacefrom the University of Arizona they comment that “based on the most recent work, the previously reported tentative hint of an atmosphere was likely just “noise” from the host star.” If the star itself gave us hope in the first place by not seeming to be a “killer” of planets, it has now moved to the other side of the spectrum. It is possible that this radiation bombardment allowed Extremophilic microbes will develop on those planets, but to do so they would have to have a denser atmosphere, something that JWST is not seeing. However, all is not lost. The Great Hope: TRAPPIST-1e Although d, c and d no longer look good, the great hope now falls on e, f and g. They are the planets located in a more temperate orbit, where the balance between radiation and atmospheric loss may be more conducive to having a denser atmosphere that allows life. Among them, astronomers consider TRAPPIST-1e to be the most promising. A few weeks ago, a article showed how JWST observed TRAPPIST-1e during four different transits at the time when the planet came closest to its star. The telescope’s near-infrared spectrograph recorded subtle changes in the light around it, which would indicate the presence of chemicals in the atmosphere. Their estimate is that the atmosphere is composed of a majority of nitrogen and methane, and not carbon dioxide as occurs on Venus or Mars. Now, is this the case or is it once again noise from the host star.” It is a possibility that they do not rule out, but as they comment, need more observations and analysis. The researchers are clear that “if TRAPPIST-1e has an atmosphere, it is habitable.” It is a bold statement, but the second part of the question is “is there an atmosphere?” For now, it remains an enigma, but the next step is what will allow researchers to rule out the planet as habitable or get excited again. What will they do? Observe the transit through the star of TRAPPIST-1e when it coincides with that of TRAPPIST-1b. This way, ‘e”s signal will not be contaminated with noise from its star and observers will be able to “separate what the star is doing from what is actually happening in the planet’s atmosphere. If it has one.” Therefore, there is a thread to hold on to, but it is better not to get too excited about a planet that is right here in the neighborhood of the infinite vastness of the universe. Images | IT/M. Kornmesser, NASA/JPL-Caltech In Xataka | The James Webb has broken another historical record: a supermassive black hole older than expected