Selections from 2017: Hostile Environment Around TRAPPIST-1

Editor’s note: In these last two weeks of 2017, we’ll be looking at a few selections that we haven’t yet discussed on AAS Nova from among the most-downloaded papers published in AAS journals this year. The usual posting schedule will resume in January.

The Threatening Magnetic and Plasma Environment of the TRAPPIST-1 Planets

Published July 2017

Main takeaway:

Models of the magnetic environment surrounding the seven planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system suggest that this is not a pleasant place to be for life. In particular, the simulations run by Cecilia Garraffo (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) and collaborators indicate that all planets in the system are bombarded by a stellar wind with a pressure that’s 1,000 to 100,000 times the pressure of what we experience on Earth.

Why it’s interesting:

Simulations of the magnetic environment around the planet TRAPPIST-1 f, for a variety of different assumed planetary magnetic fields. Red field lines are those that have connected between the star and the planet. [Garraffo et al. 2017]

The discovery of seven Earth-sized planets in the nearby TRAPPIST-1 system — particularly given many of the planets’ apparent location in the star’s habitable zone — gave us hope that these planets might be an interesting place to look for life. But the issue of habitability is more complicated than whether or not the planets can support liquid water. Garraffo and collaborators’ models suggest that these planets likely have their atmospheres eroded or completely stripped by the stellar wind, rendering prospects for life on these planets low.

Why the TRAPPIST-1 system is still awesome:

We may be bummed that the magnetically active host star impedes chances for life on the TRAPPIST-1 planets, but the environment it produces is still pretty awesome. According to the authors’ models, the planets pass through wildly changing wind pressure changes as they orbit. In the process, their magnetospheres are compressed, and their magnetic field lines connect with the stellar field lines over much of the planets’ surfaces, causing the stellar wind particles to funnel directly onto the planets’ atmospheres. The result is an exciting and dynamic environment definitely worth studying further.

Citation

Cecilia Garraffo et al 2017 ApJL 843 L33. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aa79ed