TRAPPIST–1

TRAPPIST–1 is a planetary system, located 39 light years from the Solar system, near the ecliptic, within the constellation of Aquarius. Around a star which is 12 times less massive than the Sun and only slightly larger than Jupiter, there are at least seven planets in orbit. All the planets in the TRAPPIST–1 system transit their star, meaning that they pass in front of it. The planets were discovered from the regular and repeated shadows that are cast during transit. Thanks to the transit signals we could measure the orbital periods of the planets and could calculate the sizes of the planets. The exact time at which the planets transit also provide us with a means to measure their masses, which leads to knowing their densities and therefore their bulk properties. The planets are consistent with a rocky composition. The initial discovery of TRAPPIST–1 was made by TRAPPIST, the TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope. Additional planets were subsequently identified using TRAPPIST and the Spitzer space telescope, the Very Large Telescope, UKIRT, the Liverpool Telescope and the William Herschel Telescope.

trappist-1 system trappist-1 telescope observatory

TRAPPIST

The Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope (TRAPPIST) is the corporate name for a pair of Belgian optic robotic telescopes. TRAPPIST–South, which is situated high in the Chilean mountains at ESO’s La Silla Observatory, came online in 2010, and TRAPPIST–North situated at the Oukaïmden Observatory in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, came online in 2016. The telescope condominium is a joint venture between the University of Liège, Belgium, and Geneva Observatory, Switzerland, and among other tasks, it specializes in searching for comets and exoplanets.

SPECULOOS

TRAPPIST monitored a few dozen ultra-cool dwarfs photometrically. This is a prototype for a more important and ambitious survey called the Search for Planets EClipsing ULtra–COOl Stars (SPECULOOS), which is currently under construction at Cerro Paranal. With SPECULOOS, we will observe more than ten times more stars than TRAPPIST did, at a greater precision.