Webb rules out alien life on nearby Earth-like planet
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope just found that TRAPPIST-1 d—a rocky planet 40 light-years away—doesn't have an Earth-like atmosphere.
This makes it much less likely to support life as we know it, even though it orbits in the "habitable zone" around its star.
TRAPPIST-1 d no longer on list of potential Earth cousins
Webb's NIRSpec instrument didn't pick up water vapor, methane, or carbon dioxide—gases you'd expect if the planet had an atmosphere like ours.
As lead researcher Caroline Piaulet-Ghorayeb put it, "At this point we can rule out TRAPPIST-1 d from a list of potential Earth twins or cousins."
The missing atmosphere could be due to harsh flares from its red dwarf star or maybe the planet never had much air in the first place.
Now, scientists are focusing on neighboring planets
With TRAPPIST-1 d off the table, researchers are now looking at its neighboring planets (e, f, g, h), which orbit farther out and might stand a better chance of holding onto their atmospheres.
It's a tougher challenge—but every step helps us get closer to finding worlds that could actually support life.