I see in the news that scientists have now claimed that TRAPPIST-1 has possibly chance of two Earth like planets. This is wrong in my view and the reason for that is this.
- The TRAPPIST-1 star system is too cold for life. That means it doesn’t have the energy output to start life. The light energy from the star is too little. It’s simply too little light on any of the planets to get life going.
- There is too much radiation in this star system. Dwarf stars, specially Ultra-cool dwarfs have more radiation as energy output then just light. This means higher x-ray output from the star.
- The planets are too close together. The planets them self are probably geologically unstable. It is highly likely that all of the inner planets have high rate of volcanism (like the one found on Earth) that destroys and rebuilds oceans and lakes in matter of centuries. Possibly on shorter time scale.
Not every star system in the universe has the ability to get life going and Trappist-1 is one of those star systems. The same goes for every other dwarf star system out there. They are all too cold to support life. If scientists want to search for life they need to focus on stars that are like or close to our own sun in make and energy output. I don’t know if O-type and down to A-type of stars can support life due to their size, radiation profile and amount of energy that they push out every second. In my view life is limited to K-type and up to F-type of stars. The Sun (Sol) is a G-type star.
The discussion about life in space has been bothering me for a long time because it is based on the assumption that life can exist everywhere without any limits. That is a wrong view to have in my view. The rule that I have in this is that there are more dead planets (without life) out there than there are planets with life.
Reading the study shows that it is based on a guesswork or highly limited data that is giving them false results in their models. The problem that I am facing is that I don’t have the hardware (or the time) to study this my self to disprove them. If I did, then I would disprove them soon as I could. But I can’t and that’s the end of that.
The news article that sparked me writing this article.
Two planets in unusual star system are very likely habitable, scientists say (The Guardian)