By Amira Shehata

Monday, 03 April 2023 05:00 AM

The researchers revealed that The James Webb Space Telescope They measured the temperature of a rocky planet outside the solar system for the first time, and found that the planet had no atmosphere. Trappist-1 In 2017, astronomers were excited by the prospect that some of its seven rocky planets could be habitable at Earth-like sizes and masses.

According to the site,PhysicsAbout 40 light-years from Earth, the planets orbit a red dwarf star that is much cooler than Earth’s rocky planets. Our solar systemBut their star is much less energetic than our Sun.

The system made an obvious target for the Webb telescope, which has captured several scientific discoveries since making its first observations in July last year.

Astronomers pay attention Trappist-1 bThe closest planet to its star, as measured by the Webb Infrared Instrument (WEBB), was easy to detect.Miri) change in brightness as the planet moves behind its star is called a secondary eclipse.

“Before disappearing behind the star, the planet gives off more light as it shows its diurnal side almost exclusively,” Elsa Ducrot, co-author of the new study published in the journal Nature, told AFP.

And by subtracting the star’s brightness, the researchers were able to calculate the amount of infrared light the planet emits, NASA said in a statement. Miri This allowed it to act like a “giant thermometer”.