SEARCH FOR LIFE
What makes the TRAPPIST-1 system an interesting target for exoplanet research?
TRAPPIST-1 is unique because it is currently the only system for which we could probe the atmosphere of planets that are similar to Earth in terms of size, mass and irradiation received from the star. This facilitated access to small planets is enabled by the size of its host star, which is only marginally larger than our Solar System’s Jupiter. This remarkable trait makes it 100 times easier to detect the atmospheres of planets orbiting TRAPPIST-1 compared to the same planets orbiting a Sun-like star.