On the surface of planets included in the TRAPPIST-1 is water?

An international team of astronomers has been assessed by means of a space telescope the NASA/ESA Hubble (“Hubble”) the possibility of the existence of water on the surfaces of the seven planets the size of Earth orbiting a dwarf star TRAPPIST-1.

The obtained results indicate that the planets in this system may contain on their surfaces significant water reserves. These three planets are in the habitable zone of a star, so the probability that they have a life increasing.

We will remind that on February 22, 2017 astronomers announced the discovery of the seven planets the size of Earth, orbiting around the dwarf star sverhdorogoy TRAPPIST-1, located at a distance of 40 light years from Earth. This makes the system TRAPPIST-1 planetary system with the largest number of earth-type planets, open today.

In the new study, an international team of scientists led by the Swiss astronomer Vincent Burge (Vincent Bourrier) from the Observatory, University of Geneva, using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) the space telescope NASA/ESA Hubble, measured the amount of ultraviolet radiation that gets each of the planets in the system are TRAPPIST-1. Ultraviolet radiation interacts with water molecules, splitting them into components – hydrogen and oxygen – which then leave the planet’s atmosphere. The result of this data, the scientists found that over the last 8 billion years, the two inner planets of the system TRAPPIST-1, b, and c received the largest amount of UV radiation and probably lost a huge amount of water. At the same time, the three outer planets, e, f and g, could lose much less water and to save quite a significant amount of it on their surfaces, consider Burge and his team.

These results do not allow to unambiguously determine the presence or water content on the surfaces of planets in the system are TRAPPIST-1. As the authors of the study, in the future, the search for water on the surfaces of the planets of this system can be switched with the currently under construction space telescope James Webb (“James Webb”).

Recently we told you that NASA is preparing for a new mission to Mars called InSight.

Source: AstroNews