Podcaster: Tony Darnell
Title: Deep Astronomy – Exoplanet Radio – Ep. . 36: TRAPPIST-1e: The Most Habitable Exoplanet
Organization: Deep Astronomy
Link : https://deepastronomy.space
Twitter @DeepAstronomy, https://facebook.com/DeepAstronomy
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/deepastronomy
Description: From September 13, 2023.
TRAPPIST-1e is a rocky, close-to-Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting within the habitable zone around the ultra-cool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 approximately 40 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Aquarius.
Bio: Tony Darnell is the owner of Deep Astronomy website and a host for the same hangout channel in Youtube. He has worked in the field of astronomy all my life, his first job was at a school district planetarium in Boulder, Colorado. With the exception of a stint in the Army in the 1980’s he has worked in many aspects of astronomical research.
Most of his time has been spent writing software to retrieve, process and analyze data taken from telescopes. He has worked with data from some of the world’s largest ground-based and space-based telescopes: from the four meter Blanco telescope in Chile to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Astronomy education has always been his passion and he has written articles for DeepAstronomy.space website and produce astronomy videos for YouTube on the DeepAstronomy channel.
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Transcript:
This is exoplanet radio, I’m Tony Darnell TRAPPIST-1 is a rocky earth-sized exoplanet orbiting within the habitable zone around the ultra cool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 Approximately 40 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Aquarius It is the fourth of seven planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system, which is the most studied planetary system outside our own Astronomers are intensely interested in these planets because all seven of them are roughly earth-sized and rocky and three of them Including TRAPPIST-1e are located in the habitable zone where liquid water could exist on their surfaces It has a mass of about half that of Earth’s and is about the same size All of these planets orbit close to the star It takes only six days for this one to complete one orbit and is so close That it’s about 30 times closer than Earth is to the Sun TRAPPIST-1e was discovered in 2017 based on observations from various telescopes Including NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope Which detected the periodic dimming of light from the star as the planet transits or passes in front of it Since then it’s been studied by other telescopes including NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Which is beginning to probe the atmosphere and surface condition of all of the TRAPPIST planets TRAPPIST-1e is a fascinating example of how diverse and complex exoplanets can be and Of all the planets in this system, it may be the most suitable exoplanet found yet for life If it is found to have an atmosphere Which would be a huge deal in and of itself and something the Webb Space Telescope is uniquely equipped to do Then by studying it we can learn more about its climate and potential for habitability For example a detailed study by Webb could detect signs of water vapor and ozone in the planet’s atmosphere Which could provide a protective layer against harmful radiation from the star Webb could also measure the planet’s daytime temperature to give an indication of just what sort of organisms if any could survive there Running models of rocky planets like this around red dwarf stars suggests that TRAPPIST-1e may not be uniformly hot Because it is tidally locked to its star meaning it always shows the same face to it One side of the planet may be much hotter than the other and the night side may be cold enough to freeze water This would create a stark contrast between day and night The planet may also have strong winds that circulate heat around the globe creating a more moderate climate What’s more?
Astronomers are starting to think that life on tidally locked planets might even be found Nestled in terminator zones the region where the night side of the planet is separated from the day side TRAPPIST-1e is an enormously promising target for future observations with Webb Not only to further understand the physical characteristics of the planet But Webb has instruments on board which may be able to detect signs of life if they exist Astronomers call these biosignatures and are compounds in the atmosphere that could only be put there by living organisms such as certain types of methane or oxygen This would indicate biological activity on the planet’s surface or subsurface Exoplanet Radio is produced by Deep Astronomy. The music is by Geodesium and available at LochNessProductions.com Get all episodes at ExoplanetRadio.com or anywhere you get podcasts You’re listening to the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast
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