Written by Amira Shehata
Monday, 03 April 2023 05:00 AM
Researchers revealed that the James Webb Space Telescope measured the temperature of a rocky planet outside the solar system for the first time, and found that the planet likely lacks an atmosphere. Trappist-1 In 2017, astronomers were excited at the prospect that some of its seven rocky planets, which are roughly Earth-like in size and mass, might be habitable.
According to the site,PhysAt only 40 light-years from Earth, the planets orbit their extremely cold red dwarf star more than the rocky planets in our solar system, but their star gives off much less energy than our sun.
The system made an obvious target for the Webb telescope, which has captured a number of scientific discoveries since making its first observations in July of last year.
Astronomers focus on Trappist-1bthe closest planet to its star, because it was easier to detect, as the Webb infrared instrument (Webb) measuredMIRI) The change in brightness when the planet moved behind its star, in what is known as a secondary eclipse.
“Before it disappears behind the star, the planet gives off the most light because it shows its daily side almost exclusively,” Elsa Ducrot, a co-author of a new study published in the journal Nature, told AFP.
Also, by subtracting the star’s brightness, the researchers were able to calculate the amount of infrared light that the planet emits. MIRI It was thus able to function like a “giant thermometer”.