TRAPPIST-1e
A rocky, Earth-sized world in the habitable zone of an ultra-cool red dwarf.
TRAPPIST-1e is a rocky exoplanet close to Earth's size, orbiting in the habitable zone of the ultra-cool red dwarf TRAPPIST-1, about 40.7 light-years away in Aquarius. It is one of seven planets found around the star with the Spitzer Space Telescope by the transit method, and one of three (e, f and g) in the habitable zone.
Its mass, radius, density, gravity and stellar flux are all similar to Earth's. A 2018 study rated it the system's best candidate for an Earth-like ocean world. Observations have ruled out a cloud-free hydrogen-rich atmosphere, but a 2025 study could not say whether it has an atmosphere at all.
Quick Facts
- Discoverer
- Michaël Gillon et al.
- Discovery site
- Spitzer Space Telescope
- Discovered
- 22 February 2017
- Discovery method
- Transit
- Star
- TRAPPIST-1
- Atmosphere composition
- None or mostly N; 2; with trace amounts of CH; 4; and CO; 2
More in exoplanets
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