A Student’s Space Research: Big Insights About a Distant Planet

Mathura: Arya Tanwar, a student of GL Bajaj Group of Institutions, Mathura, carried out a project on an exoplanet named TRAPPIST-1e. He explained that his study was not based on books or theory, but on real data taken from NASA.

He said that he used data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive and the K2 mission to understand what this planet is like and whether there could be any possibility of life there.

Arya explained that when a planet passes in front of its star, the brightness of the star decreases slightly. This process is called a “transit.” He observed this change in the form of a graph called a light curve and said that even this small dip can tell us a lot about the planet.

He further shared that he used Microsoft Excel to plot the data and carefully identified the dip in the graph. Based on this, he calculated the “transit depth,” which helps in understanding how big the planet is.

Arya said that by using some scientific formulas, he calculated the planet’s radius, temperature, and density. After all these calculations, he found that TRAPPIST-1e is likely a solid, rocky planet, quite similar to Earth.

He also explained that this planet lies in the habitable zone of its star, which means it is in a region where water could exist under the right conditions. This is why scientists consider it an important planet.

Arya clearly mentioned that he did not use any coding in his project. Instead, he completed the entire analysis using Excel and NASA’s online tools. According to him, if data is understood properly, even simple tools can lead to important scientific findings.

In the end, he said that in the future, the atmosphere of this planet can be studied in more detail, which may help scientists better understand whether life could exist there or not.