Saturday, February 10, 2024

Most M-star planets are airless

TRAPPIST-1's worlds b, c, and certainly d are airless; as, probably, are Prox b and d. There was hope for TRAPPIST-1 e through h. This hope is flittering away.

The problem is that when a M star joins the main-sequence, it takes too long. Meanwhile it is baking its inner planets - up to what passes for the habitable zone. Even something of Earth irradiance (ideally) is not Earth irradiance for a billion years or two.

It's not all cold water - or, rather, we want cold water here. It may happen that a largish Earthlike like TRAPPIST-1 f, all dry and airless and cold now, gets a cometary visit. The ammonia and water and carbon monoxide form the new ocean and react, so that eventually nitrogen envelops the place (and CO2 maybe). Although this may not be common so, do not raise back up your hope.

BACKDATE 2/15 and now we're caught up. For now. JOULE HEATING 2/25: TRAPPIST 1 e is airless: here's the full paper. Now, for forewarning: TRAPPIST-1 is exceptionally dim. Warmer red-dwarfs might allow what this star doesn't, further from the star.

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