An international team of researchers have measured the temperature of the rocky exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 by using the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The planet's thermal emission, which is identified by Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), serves as the basis for the measurement. The outcome suggests that the planet has no significant atmosphere and that its dayside has a temperature of about 500 kelvins or approximately 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
The finding that there is no atmosphere present on the rocky exoplanet squashes hopes that this intriguing world might host life. Of the seven earth-like exoplanets in the TRAPPIST-1 Star system, TRAPPIST-1b orbits the closest to the parent star and is about 1.4 times as large as the earth.
The closest planet, TRAPPIST-1 b, orbits the Sun at a distance roughly one hundredth that of Earth and absorbs roughly four times as much energy from it as Earth does.
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Astrophysicist Thomas Greene, who led the observations and works for NASA's Ames Research Center in California, told Space.com that he had hoped for a different outcome.
Greene said, "Some theory groups predicted that the planet would have a dense atmosphere, while others thought it might not, I was more disappointed than surprised to see it had no atmosphere.”
The stars at the centre of TRAPPIST-1, located around 40 light years away from the sun, are known as red dwarfs (M dwarfs) and are the smallest known type of stars capable of burning hydrogen in their cores.
In order to learn more about the past of the universe, from the Big Bang to exoplanet formation and beyond, the James Webb Space Telescope is scouring the cosmos. It is one of NASA's Great Observatories, a collection of enormous space telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope that look far into space.
As per NASA, the main focus of JWST is to find out the assembly of galaxies in the early universe, the first light in the universe, the birth of stars and protoplanetary systems, and planets (including the origins of life).
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
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