“It does not bode well.” A shock to NASA scientists about an Earth-like planet
Use of special technology geared towards a warming planet - illustration
The Webb space telescope found no evidence of an atmosphere around one of the seven rocky planets, which are roughly the size of Earth and orbit a nearby star.
?Why is it bad news
Scientists said today, Monday, that "this does not bode well" for the rest of the planets in this solar system, some of which are located in very suitable locations for the presence of water and possibly life.
The NASA- led team has reported little data on the lack of an atmosphere around the innermost planet in the dwarf star system, TRAPPIST-1, 40 light-years away.
The researchers used a special technique aimed at a planet as warm as this one , and the results were published Monday in the journal Nature.
No atmosphere means no water or protection from cosmic rays, said Professor Thomas Green, an astrophysicist in the Department of Space Sciences and Astrobiology at NASA's Ames Research Center and leader of the study team.
?What about other planets
As for the other planets orbiting the dwarf star TRAPPIST-1, Green said in an email, "I would feel more optimistic about the presence of other planets' atmospheres."
Green noted that because this innermost planet is bombarded by solar radiation - four times as much as Earth gets from our sun - it's possible that the extra energy is the reason for the lack of an atmosphere.
The study team plans to record more observations and observations, not for this planet alone, but for other planets in the (TRAPPIST) system.
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