An Exoplanet Discovered by James Webb, Just 40 Light-Years Away, May Offer Earth-Like Living Conditions

Fascination for possible forms of life on other planets

For many years now, the possibility, even the desire, of living on a planet, or finding new forms of life, other than on earth, has fascinated researchers. In this sense, many research on different planets, such as those carried out on Mars, was started.

However, researchers may have found a planet that is getting closer to the earth in terms of living conditions. The latter is part of one of the seven exoplanets of rocky composition, making the size of our planet, which surrounds the famous Red Dwarf Star Trappist-1.

A sparkling envelope similar to ours and which facilitates the presence of liquid water

Discovered in 2016, the Trappist-1 system, which is located at 40 years Earth lights, quickly presented a reason for hope among specialists. And the recent observations of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the most powerful spatial telescope ever built, come to further strengthen the interest around the system, and more precisely one of its exoplanets.

Indeed, Trappist-1e of its name, presents a gas envelope similar to ours, namely an atmosphere rich in nitrogen, with traces of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane, which could facilitate the presence of liquid water. These results, obtained thanks to studies by Space Telescope Science Institute (STSCI), Johns Hopkins University in the United States and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), are all the more speaking when we know that our earthly atmosphere is composed of 78 % nitrogen and contains traces of CO2 and methane.

“Trappist-11e remains one of our most convincing habitable planets, and these new results bring us a little more closer to what type of world it is”, declared the astronomer Sara Seager du (MIT), co-author of one of the two studies published in the journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Other parameters come into account

If these results are promising, other research is necessary to confirm the atmospheric composition of the Trappist-11 exoplanet. But the presence of a gas envelope similar to that of the earth and water in the liquid form are essential parameters in the appearance and expansion of life.

“We are only in the beginnings of the exploration of the incredible scientific discoveries that we can perform with WebB. It is incredible to be able to measure the details of the light of the stars around planets of the size of the earth, 40-light-distance years, and to discover what it might look like, if life was possible there ”, said Ana Glidden, astrophysicist at MIT.

The researchers will now look at the possible presence of “biosignatures”, gases present in the atmosphere which could possibly betray the fact that life forms have developed on the surface of Trappist-1e.

Source: Sciencealerlet