Posted on by Paul

JWST Update #006

I heard that last instrument was just shy of absolute zero a couple days ago. It’s a new dawn in space exploration.

The first project for JWST is to look at an exoplanet system called TRAPPIST-1, which is 40 light years away from us. This consists of seven rocky Earth-sized planets in orbit around a cool red dwarf star. Three of the rocky planets are in the so-called habitable zone, which means they could have liquid water on their surfaces. The TRAPPIST-1 star is only 1/10 the mass of our sun and is much cooler, but the planets orbit close to the star so they receive light levels similar to here on Earth.

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