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TRAPPIST-1 now has seven planets. (Possible life?)

_Augustus_

By _Augustus_
in Science & Spaceflight

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ProtoJeb21

ProtoJeb21

Posted
Posted
35 minutes ago, Spaceception said:

If it even developed intelligent life, unless there's a stay at home civilization.

I'd say that this new age estimate gives the Trappist planets a great time period for the development of life. At 5 to 10 billion years old, any life would have a very long time to adapt to atmospheric changes, low starlight, and frequent flares. Also, this would be a great amount of time for planets to rebuild any lost atmosphere through volcanism and the release of water from their mantles (like with Earth).

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Cabbink

Cabbink

Posted
Posted
25 minutes ago, _Augustus_ said:

I can't wait for JWST to look at this system. I actually believe it has life now....

Ye.
Now if we start finding massive ammounts of gasses like methane, then we know life (or special minerals) are there.

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ProtoJeb21

ProtoJeb21

Posted
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9 minutes ago, Mitchz95 said:

Is Webb actually scheduled to look at this system? I assume there are a lot of candidates to choose from.

Yes. One of its first exoplanet targets will be TRAPPIST-1e. I assume the other planets won't be far behind.

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ProtoJeb21

ProtoJeb21

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On 8/31/2017 at 3:47 PM, insert_name said:

NASA has found evidence of water!

http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/a28018/hubble-spots-possible-evidence-of-water-on-earth-sized-trappist-1-planets/

That's great news! This is also backed up by the most likely formation theory of the Trappist planets, which states that they started with significant amounts of water ice before migrating closer to the star. The densities of some planets, including Irene (f) and Carphos (g) suggest significant amounts of water, as in anywhere from 0.1 to 50%, depending on what mass results you're looking at. However, these diffuse hydrogen clouds don't rule out the possibility of water on Theros (b). Why? Both results for its mass suggest a low density only possible by a quarter of the planet's mass being liquid water. It's possible that Theros has lost a good portion of its original mass into space and once was a bit larger.

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ProtoJeb21

ProtoJeb21

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@_Augustus_ @Cabbink @insert_name @Spaceception @Mitchz95 @Scotius Wait a minute...I just realized something. 

Hubble was able to detect spare clouds of hydrogen around the inner Trappist planets, which were likely created from water vapor being broken apart by X-rays. Now, since the hydrogen from H2O is lost into space, where did the oxygen go? Answer: it stayed in the planets' atmospheres. These worlds - most likely Theros - could have atmospheres rich in abiotic oxygen! This could also make conditions for life on Theros even more possible.

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Cabbink

Cabbink

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

@_Augustus_ @Cabbink @insert_name @Spaceception @Mitchz95 @Scotius Wait a minute...I just realized something. 

Hubble was able to detect spare clouds of hydrogen around the inner Trappist planets, which were likely created from water vapor being broken apart by X-rays. Now, since the hydrogen from H2O is lost into space, where did the oxygen go? Answer: it stayed in the planets' atmospheres. These worlds - most likely Theros - could have atmospheres rich in abiotic oxygen! This could also make conditions for life on Theros even more possible.

Forget proxima centauri.  Send starshot to trappist 1.

Could we use gravity assists to slow down? I mean, it's 7 planets.

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Spaceception

Spaceception

Posted
Posted (edited)
19 minutes ago, Cabbink said:

Forget proxima centauri.  Send starshot to trappist 1.

Could we use gravity assists to slow down? I mean, it's 7 planets.

Nah, from 1/5 the speed of light? You'd have to have a laser array on the other side to have a chance.

Plus it'd take around 200 years, so there's that.

Edited by Spaceception
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Cabbink

Cabbink

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Spaceception said:

Nah, from 1/5 the speed of light? You'd have to have a laser array on the other side to have a chance.

Plus it'd take around 200 years, so there's that.

Oh yeah. Forgot about that

We need exotic or negative matter stat. We need some warp drives.

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Cabbink

Cabbink

Posted
Posted (edited)

anyways, here's a banner from the solar system art thing. Not going to link or any thing. I'm going to re-use it for this thread as a banner. I'll have an edit for this when I get to it . They are even properly scaled to eachother (somewhat)

Warning. Massive photo

Spoiler

uoxWoYm.png

 

Edited by Cabbink
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Scotius

Scotius

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

@_Augustus_ @Cabbink @insert_name @Spaceception @Mitchz95 @Scotius Wait a minute...I just realized something. 

Hubble was able to detect spare clouds of hydrogen around the inner Trappist planets, which were likely created from water vapor being broken apart by X-rays. Now, since the hydrogen from H2O is lost into space, where did the oxygen go? Answer: it stayed in the planets' atmospheres. These worlds - most likely Theros - could have atmospheres rich in abiotic oxygen! This could also make conditions for life on Theros even more possible.

For Earthlike life it wouldn't be good news. First microbes that appeared on our planet were anaerobes - oxygen, despite being a byproduct of their metabolism, was toxic to them. Switch to oxygen - based metabolism processes happened only when life was well established, and rightfully is called an Oxygen Revolution.

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ProtoJeb21

ProtoJeb21

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6 hours ago, Scotius said:

For Earthlike life it wouldn't be good news. First microbes that appeared on our planet were anaerobes - oxygen, despite being a byproduct of their metabolism, was toxic to them. Switch to oxygen - based metabolism processes happened only when life was well established, and rightfully is called an Oxygen Revolution.

I find it unlikely that Earth-like life could develop on Theros at all, considering how most of the planet is likely covered in one giant sauna hundreds of kilometers deep. However, the possibility of oxygen in the atmosphere is promising for the development of some life forms...if there's any land on this planet. There could be giant floating salt islands caused by the evaporation of water that left behind trapped salt. Honestly, it really depends on how deep Theros' oceans are, which will determine if any land is present and what chemicals will be in the water.

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Cabbink

Cabbink

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3 hours ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

I find it unlikely that Earth-like life could develop on Theros at all, considering how most of the planet is likely covered in one giant sauna hundreds of kilometers deep. However, the possibility of oxygen in the atmosphere is promising for the development of some life forms...if there's any land on this planet. There could be giant floating salt islands caused by the evaporation of water that left behind trapped salt. Honestly, it really depends on how deep Theros' oceans are, which will determine if any land is present and what chemicals will be in the water.

What about bacteria ? Islands made of massive swaths of microorganisms?  How about that as land? Or whale  islands?

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Scotius

Scotius

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3 hours ago, Cabbink said:

What about bacteria ? Islands made of massive swaths of microorganisms?  How about that as land? Or whale  islands?

No :). Unless it's some sort of floating, porous reef less dense than surrounding it water and covered in a milimeters thick "skin" of microorganisms. For more complicated structures you would need circulatory system, something akin to gills or lungs, digestive system, skeleton supporting all of this etc. It would be a proper animal by then - and multicellular organisms aren't easy to create :) On Earth evolution needed hundreds of millions of years to go from amoebas to jellyfish and corals.

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UranianBlue

UranianBlue

Posted
Posted

yeah, apart from the tidal locking, intense radiation from TRAPPIST-1, it will be great! Now, astronomers just need to see what's in the atmosphere of these planets (if they have any). That will tell us the difference from an exo-Venus and an exo-Earth!

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Cabbink

Cabbink

Posted
Posted (edited)
22 minutes ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

I think it may be a bit too early to reveal this...but there might be an EIGHTH planet of Trappist-1.

Saw the is on EE. It orbits far, Like h, right? Do you know how big it is, or what it's composition might be?

Edited by Cabbink
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