alright everyone here is one of your
most asked for videos everything you
could want to know about the Trappist
system and I can see why there is so
much interest it is such a unique system
compared to anything else that we know
of an entire solar system contained well
within the distance of mercury in the
Sun it is one of the closest places to
us that could Harbor alien life outside
the solar system it being only 40 light
years away from us that means we won't
be visiting it anytime soon but with
improved technology from the James Webb
Space Telescope will be able to gain an
insight into another solar system like
never before I'm Alex McColgan and
you're watching Astro and together we
will go through the traffic system and
see why it is so special let's begin at
the heart of the trapper system Trappist
one itself the ultra cool red dwarf star
a star which is just a little bit bigger
than Jupiter but a lot more massive red
dwarf stars are the most common type of
star in the galaxy even our closest
neighbour Proxima Centauri is a red
dwarf as is 50 of the closest 60 stars
to us being so cool means they are very
long-lived stellar models suggest they
could exist for trillions of years which
is far more than the current age of the
universe although there are many known
red dwarfs with exoplanets around them
typically red dwarfs are dubious
candidates to have life this is because
the Goldilocks zone or the distance from
the star where water could theoretically
pool on the planet's surface is
extremely close to the parent star
mean in any exoplanets orbiting in this
zone are likely tightly locked this
means one side to the planet would
always be facing the star and the other
side would be in perpetual night the
night side would be cold enough for
gases in the atmosphere to freeze also
red dwarf stars are often flare stars or
stars that can have their brightness
increase very rapidly to magnitudes
brighter than they are normally this is
similar in a way to a solar flare on our
Sun but on a much grander scale this
variation in temperatures and radiation
is not good for life to develop on any
planets nearby or four planets retain in
their atmospheres during a huge flare
Trappist one however while being a red
dwarf does not flare up as much as its
other red dwarf cousins thirty times
less than a typical red dwarf star great
for the chances that atmospheres exist
on the exoplanets around the star all
the exoplanets are likely to be tidally
locked to the parent star though
something will come onto later which
leads us nicely to the planets of
Trappist one Trappist one has astounded
scientists in that it has seven known
earth sized planets orbiting it
optimistically speaking six out of the
seven planets orbit within the system's
Goldilocks zone these planets are so
close together the furthest out planet
still only orbits at roughly nine
million kilometers from the star in
comparison mercury orbits our star at 58
million kilometers let's go through what
we know about each of Trappists
exoplanets it should be noted though
that our current observations aren't
going to be perfect and will only
improve as time goes on but this is what
we think at this point in time
Trappist one be the closest planet to
the star the slightly larger than earth
but with the same mass meaning surface
gravity will be about eighty percent of
Earth's quite similar to Venus it is
also similar to Venus in that it has
extremely thick atmosphere potentially
full of co2 meaning that because this
planet only orbits 1.7 million
kilometres from the star it's gonna be
really hot a year on Trappist 1b lasts
only 36 hours
this atmosphere could also be rich in
water and surface pressure is likely to
be ten thousand times greater than Earth
with such close proximity to the star
and significant greenhouse gases surface
temperature is thought to be between 500
and 1700 Celsius not the ideal place for
our type of life then tracklist 1c is
the next planet orbiting at 2.4 million
kilometers away from the star
it's year lasts 58 hours at this
distance out it is getting about two
times the Starlight earth gets from how
a Sun its size and mass are about ten
percent more than the earth which means
it has a very similar gravity to earth
it is very similar to Trappist one be in
that scientists believe it to also have
a thick water vapor atmosphere although
trap is one sees is probably less thick
this means its surface temperature is
likely to be hot but not as high as trap
is one B next is Trappist one D only an
extra 1 million kilometers further out
than trap is 2 1 C 1 year lasts only 97
hours trafficed 1d is kind of like a mix
between Earth and Mars as it's 30%
smaller than Earth and only 30% is
massive meaning the surface gravity is
little under half of Earth's
it is found on the inner part of the
Goldilocks zone meaning at this point in
the solar system the surface temperature
is now cool enough for water to pool on
the surface it only receives 4.3 percent
more starlight than earth and combine
this with solar flares from the star it
is likely to still be pretty toasty for
our standards Trappist 1d has been found
to have a volatile layer on the surface
perhaps an ocean or a thick atmosphere
and this is where oceans and atmospheres
become very important because as I
mentioned all these planets are likely
tidally locked mean in a thin atmosphere
or no atmosphere means that one side of
the planet would be scorched and the
other side would be freezing much like
what happens with Mercury Venus on the
other hand has a thick atmosphere which
circulates the heat around the planet
meaning night or day the temperature is
the same so if these Trappist exoplanets
like Trappist 1d has only a thin
atmosphere or small ocean the chances
are that one side of the planet would be
devoid of anything but rock the other
side might be covered in ices there
might be a small band of habitability
along the twilight zone but that would
be it with a large ocean or atmosphere
the planet might be able to distribute
to the heat much better meaning it would
be habitable all over as much as we
understand habitability anyway this
planet may well be an ocean world with
over 250 times the amount of water more
than Earth's oceans although other
studies have suggested the atmosphere
could also be similar to Venus's we will
get a better understanding from the
James Webb telescope travesti 1e orbits
another 1 million kilometers out again
at 4.4 million kilometers from the star
its year takes 146 hours and at this
distance it only gets 60 percent of the
Starlight Earth Dez
sighs mass and gravity are all very
earth-like and it is probably the only
planet in the Trappist system to have a
rock iron composition like Earth it also
has a compact hydrogen poor atmosphere
which is good as hydrogen is a strong
greenhouse gas and will make the planet
inhospitable from this distance with
this compact atmosphere water could pool
on the surface and the temperature would
be very earth-like if a little cooler
depending on the albedo of the planet
and how much heat the atmosphere retains
all in all it is considered one of if
not the most earth-like exoplanets that
we know of and it's going to be one of
the first targets of the James Webb
telescope to try and detect signs of
life how amazing would it be if it
really was a cousin to earth only 40
light years away from Trappist 1f and
beyond we're still in the Goldilocks
zone but it's starting to get much
cooler at this distance Trappist 1f
orbits a distance of 5.8 million
kilometers from the star and a year
takes 220 hours or roughly nine days
it's size is very earth-like although it
is less dense meaning surface gravity
will be about eighty percent of Earth's
the most recent studies on this planet
have suggested that it's low density
means it is likely to be 20% water which
at this distance from the star would
cause a massive greenhouse effect
meaning the water would be in gaseous
form this is known as a steam world and
it would probably be no more habitable
than the ice or gas giants in our solar
system due to the high pressure and
temperature on the surface likely in the
hundreds of degrees Celsius
Trappist 1g is slightly bigger than
Earth and orbits at seven million
kilometers taking 12 days to do so
hasn't been too much information
discovered about this planet other than
water has again been found on it this
planet is still found in the Goldilocks
zone although right on the far edge so
it is still a candidate for habitability
and lastly Trappist 1h it orbits at nine
point three million kilometers and takes
19 days to do so it's the smallest of
the known exoplanets in this system and
also the least dense meaning its gravity
is comparable to our moons due to the
cool nature of the host star being this
far out means the planet is likely icy
as it does have water theoretically it
could also have liquid water on the
surface if it had a hydrogen rich
atmosphere to act as a greenhouse gas
but again little is known about this
planet so that's all the planets could
this system really be habitable well it
depends on a number of factors but what
we've seen so far is promising water has
been detected on most if not all the
planets the host star is a red dwarf but
not a very active one if these
exoplanets have strong enough magnetic
fields they could deflect a lot of the
solar wind if any of them do have
magnetic fields I can't imagine how
glorious some of the aurora on those
planets would look like they are also
all roughly earth sized with similar
gravities and densities not a huge
factor for life but we know it worked
here and lastly although these planets
are tidally locked they may still have
mechanisms for evenly distributing the
heat across the planet all-in-all
Trappist 1 is such an interesting system
and I can't wait to see what we find out
about it in the future
my fingers are crossed my thumbs
oppressed I prayed that James Webb
telescope launches successfully in 2021
what it is going to see in the universe
will be astounding I guarantee it thanks
for watching
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