The Webb telescope peers into the Solar System 2.0

Dec. 23 () –

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has begun to investigate the atmospheres of some of the seven rocky worlds orbiting the star TRAPPIST-1, considered the Solar System 2.0

Webb’s NIRSpec instrument makes it the only telescope capable of identifying the signatures of molecules such as methane, carbon dioxide and oxygen, possible signs of life on the surface, and clues to the composition of a planet’s atmosphere. After some promising work decoding the gases present in WASP-39b’s atmosphere, last week astronomers were finally able to take a look at the first observation of the TRAPPIST-1 system, located 39 light yearsmade by Webb.

It has not yet been reviewed or published, but at a conference held December 13 at JWST headquarters, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, scientists discussed initial data from the telescope’s observations of TRAPPIST-1g, the second planet farthest from the star, reports Space.com.

Björn Benneke, astronomer at the University of Montreal (Canada), demonstrated that TRAPPIST-1g does not have a hydrogen-rich atmosphere. Olivia Lim, a PhD student at the University of Montreal, also presented a poster with similar results for TRAPPIST-1b (part of a TRAPPIST-1 all-planet reconnaissance program), as did Alexander Rathcke, an astronomer at the Smithsonian Center for Harvard Astrophysics, for TRAPPIST-1c observations.

Thus, the first JWST observations did not discover any TRAPPIST-1 planets with evidence of a life-friendly atmosphere. It is, however, an acknowledgment to understand how to best utilize the precision of JWST and its various instruments.

“Those first observations will get us to the same level we got to with Hubble, more or less, but we’ll know how to use the instruments we want to use,” Lewis said. “It will take multiple JWST observations to accumulate the signals we need, and with the longevity of the JWST we will be able to keep revisiting and learning more.”

Lewis will study TRAPPIST-1e. “It is the one that is in the middle of the habitable zone and is the closest to the size of the Earth”, Explain. He is also collaborating with the University of Montreal because his observations of TRAPPIST-1d and TRAPPIST-1f – two other habitable zone planets – will make a fascinating comparative sample.