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TRAPPIST-1 Updates: With First 3 Planets (Out of 7) Finally Analyzed

2025-08-18 Science & Technology
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Anton Petrov
Anton Petrov
1.6m subscribers

New JWST Observations Challenge Habitability Hopes for TRAPPIST-1d

Discover how recent James Webb Space Telescope data complicate initial excitement about the TRAPPIST-1 system, focusing on specific atmospheric exclusions for the Earth-sized planet TRAPPIST-1d.

Short Summary

  • New JWST observations strongly rule out thick atmospheres (like Venus or modern Earth) on TRAPPIST-1d.
  • The lack of detectable gases suggests 1d is likely a barren rock or possesses only an extremely thin, near-undetectable atmosphere.
  • These findings challenge assumptions about water abundance around close-orbiting M-dwarf planets, though outer planets remain open targets for study. This video details the challenging stellar environment of the TRAPPIST-1 system and presents the stringent limits placed on the atmosphere of exoplanet TRAPPIST-1d using recent JWST spectral data. Understanding these null results is crucial for recalibrating expectations regarding habitability around red dwarf stars.

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Description

Support this channel on Patreon to help me make this a full time job: https://www.patreon.com/whatdamath (Unreleased videos, extra footage, DMs, no ads) Alternatively, PayPal donations can be sent here: http://paypal.me/whatdamath Get a Wonderful Person Tee: https://teespring.com/stores/whatdamath More cool designs are on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3QFIrFX Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about new updates from the TRAPPIST-1 system and the observations of TRAPPIST-1d Links: https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/webb-narrows-atmospheric-possibilities-for-earth-sized-exoplanet-trappist-1-d/ https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/adf207/pdf Previous videos: https://youtu.be/rBPcUrpi4YY https://youtu.be/snrm3DsaG8Y https://youtu.be/z_BK2FI2l30 https://youtu.be/kcQ7kglrMa4 0:00 TRAPPIST-1 Updates 1:38 What we know about the system so far 2:55 Challenges with the star activity 4:30 Previous discoveries 5:08 TRAPPIST-1d discoveries 6:35 What does this tell us? 8:15 Best explanations so far and what this means 10:30 Conclusions and what's next? Enjoy and please subscribe Bitcoin/Ethereum to spare? Donate them here to help this channel grow! bc1qnkl3nk0zt7w0xzrgur9pnkcduj7a3xxllcn7d4 or ETH: 0x60f088B10b03115405d313f964BeA93eF0Bd3DbF Thank you to all Patreon supporters of this channel Special thanks also goes to all the wonderful supporters of the channel through YouTube Memberships Licenses used: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ and relevant Creative Commons licenses

Top Comments (10)

@ap_walker 2025-08-18

Thanks Anton for your dedication to this channel. it’s one of my all time favorites

110
@George-rk7ts 2025-08-19

Earth being called "a very special little place." Anton is good at science and at a touch of whimsy. Thank you for sharing all the wonderful things with us.

104 10 replies
@thecarelost6229 2025-08-18

We only bother to look for life around red dwarves because there’s so many of them. Problems include super flares, lower material for planet formation, life limited to one hemisphere, tropics being a point instead of the equator, no seasons, slower winds, high tidal stress, more vulnerable to ice ages, CO2 precipitation in the far side, 90% of water becoming glaciers, infrared being inefficient for vision and photosynthesis (particularly bad for methane/ethane planets), and possibly more stable star systems that prevent the clearing of their Kuiper belts.

90 29 replies
@zimriel 2025-08-18

Trappist-1's planets are in resonance. They formed where they are, with little migration. Other worlds in other systems formed further away and migrated inward. Migrate worlds retain "ices" (like water) from outside. So do comets and maybe Theia-likes. So I find unlikely that Trappist-1's inner worlds, up to -d, have water.

47 1 replies
@magicsinglez 2025-08-20

On some other planet, astronomers are exited about planet Neptune - it’s in the habitable zone, where liquid methane can exist.

43 5 replies
@MyraSeavy 2025-08-18

Love ya Anton! 😊❤

26
@francescobrandonisio8538 2025-08-18

Thank you for another great video!

22
@briankleinschmidt3664 2025-08-18

Something may not seem possible right now, but I remember a time when they said, "We'll never be able to detect exoplanets". We can see a bit further than Galileo. Certainly some wonderful future person will be able to see farther than us.

21 4 replies
@Yezpahr 2025-08-18

9:52 My brain is primed to expect that head spider creature when that plant shows up, but it still startles me every time.

7
@droman655 2025-08-19

i love the fact he admits we dont lnow things just have theories based onour own neighborhood like having an oopinoin on what kansaas is like based solely on two weeks in newyork.

5

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