Overview

• The JWST-TST DREAMS team reports early NIRSpec results consistent with a secondary, heavier atmosphere on TRAPPIST-1e, though an airless rock remains possible.
• Two papers in The Astrophysical Journal Letters detail four stacked transit observations that show spectral features fitting an atmosphere model but not a definitive detection.
• Analyses robustly exclude a primordial hydrogen-dominated atmosphere and find a Venus- or Mars-like carbon dioxide–dominated atmosphere unlikely.
• Strong stellar activity from the TRAPPIST-1 red dwarf contaminated the data, requiring more than a year of corrections for starspots and flares before assessing planetary signals.
• Researchers are expanding the campaign from four to roughly 15–20 JWST transits to confirm or refute the atmospheric signal and to probe composition relevant to surface liquid water.