There is no atmosphere on a planet the size of Earth.. and scientists: it does not bode well
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.
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, according to the Associated Press.
And the NASA-led team 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 warm planet like this one, and the results were published Monday in the journal Nature.
No water or protection from cosmic rays
For his part, 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, said that the absence of an atmosphere means that there is no water or protection from cosmic rays.
As for the other planets orbiting the dwarf star (TRAPPIST-1), Green said in an e-mail: "I would feel more optimistic about the presence of atmospheres of other planets" if this star was.
Green noted that because this innermost planet is bombarded with 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.
Source : websites