Overview
- An arXiv preprint details a multi‑cycle JWST program that pairs TRAPPIST‑1e with the airless TRAPPIST‑1b to correct stellar contamination, aiming to test for an Earth‑like CO2‑bearing atmosphere with 15 close transits.
- The first three observations show the correction can flatten TRAPPIST‑1e’s spectrum in the cleanest case, yet strong flares can invalidate the stable‑star assumption and undermine the method.
- Analysis of four NIRSpec transits reporting a methane‑like feature is now judged more plausibly due to the star than to a confirmed planetary atmosphere, though an atmosphere cannot yet be ruled out.
- Current constraints exclude a cloudy hydrogen‑dominated envelope for TRAPPIST‑1e and weakly disfavor both thin and thick CO2 atmospheres, with a Titan‑like methane atmosphere considered improbable.
- A companion flare study finds TRAPPIST‑1 flares about six times per day with electron beams roughly ten times less energetic than expected, refining habitability models and informing upcoming JWST and NASA Pandora monitoring.