Imperial College London
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DrJamesOwen

Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Physics

Senior Lecturer in Exoplanet Physics
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 5785james.owen CV

 
 
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Location

 

Blackett LaboratorySouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{de:2018:10.1038/s41550-017-0374-z,
author = {de, Wit J and Wakeford, HR and Lewis, NK and Delrez, L and Gillon, M and Selsis, F and Leconte, J and Demory, B-O and Bolmont, E and Bourrier, V and Burgasser, AJ and Grimm, S and Jehin, E and Lederer, SM and Owen, JE and Stamenkovic, V and Triaud, AHMJ},
doi = {10.1038/s41550-017-0374-z},
journal = {NATURE ASTRONOMY},
pages = {214--219},
title = {Atmospheric reconnaissance of the habitable-zone Earth-sized planets orbiting TRAPPIST-1},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41550-017-0374-z},
volume = {2},
year = {2018}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Seven temperate Earth-sized exoplanets readily amenable for atmospheric studies transit the nearby ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 (refs 1,2). Their atmospheric regime is unknown and could range from extended primordial hydrogen-dominated to depleted atmospheres3,4,5,6. Hydrogen in particular is a powerful greenhouse gas that may prevent the habitability of inner planets while enabling the habitability of outer ones6,7,8. An atmosphere largely dominated by hydrogen, if cloud-free, should yield prominent spectroscopic signatures in the near-infrared detectable during transits. Observations of the innermost planets have ruled out such signatures9. However, the outermost planets are more likely to have sustained such a Neptune-like atmosphere10, 11. Here, we report observations for the four planets within or near the system’s habitable zone, the circumstellar region where liquid water could exist on a planetary surface12,13,14. These planets do not exhibit prominent spectroscopic signatures at near-infrared wavelengths either, which rules out cloud-free hydrogen-dominated atmospheres for TRAPPIST-1 d, e and f, with significance of 8σ, 6σ and 4σ, respectively. Such an atmosphere is instead not excluded for planet g. As high-altitude clouds and hazes are not expected in hydrogen-dominated atmospheres around planets with such insolation15, 16, these observations further support their terrestrial and potentially habitable nature.
AU  - de,Wit J
AU  - Wakeford,HR
AU  - Lewis,NK
AU  - Delrez,L
AU  - Gillon,M
AU  - Selsis,F
AU  - Leconte,J
AU  - Demory,B-O
AU  - Bolmont,E
AU  - Bourrier,V
AU  - Burgasser,AJ
AU  - Grimm,S
AU  - Jehin,E
AU  - Lederer,SM
AU  - Owen,JE
AU  - Stamenkovic,V
AU  - Triaud,AHMJ
DO  - 10.1038/s41550-017-0374-z
EP  - 219
PY  - 2018///
SN  - 2397-3366
SP  - 214
TI  - Atmospheric reconnaissance of the habitable-zone Earth-sized planets orbiting TRAPPIST-1
T2  - NATURE ASTRONOMY
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41550-017-0374-z
UR  - http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000429087000017&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/59061
VL  - 2
ER  -
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