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According to a paper published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, the planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system may face challenges in supporting life due to the lack of atmosphere caused by the harsh radiation from the parent star. According to a paper published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, the planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system may face challenges in supporting life due to the lack of atmosphere caused by the harsh radiation from the parent star. The research was conducted by scientists from the University of Vienna. According to a paper published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, the planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system may face challenges in supporting life due to the lack of atmosphere caused by the harsh radiation from the parent star.
The observational data from the TRAPPIST-1 system and other red dwarfs was analysed by the researchers. This enabled them to calculate the amount of high-energy radiation emitted by the star. The effects of this radiation on the possible early atmospheres of the outer planets were then modelled and their evaporation rates were determined.
Planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system have no atmosphere
Astronomy & Astrophysics
It was found that on all worlds, atmospheres disappear quite quickly, within just a few hundred million years. It has been suggested that if the planets had orbited a yellow main-sequence star like the Sun instead of a red dwarf, their initially thick atmospheres would have turned into gas shells of varying thickness, similar to what is observed for Venus, Earth, and Mars. However, due to the young age of red dwarfs, they emit even higher-energy radiation, causing the atmospheres to vaporise even faster.
Given that TRAPPIST-1 is approximately 8 billion years old, it is believed that any atmosphere in the system has long since disappeared. Therefore, it can be concluded that the system consists of only bare rocky worlds. Considering that 75% of the stars in the Milky Way are red dwarfs, it could be argued that the probability of extraterrestrial life may be lower than some previous estimates.
