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A study has found that the two outermost TRAPPIST-1 exoplanets are the most likely to be able to retain their atmospheres:
The last thing the planets around the red dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 need is abundant sunshine. Active eruptions and flares from the star would wreak havoc on the rocky planets in orbit. But fortunately, the outer planets might be safe from this barrage of high-energy space weather.
According to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences [DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1708010115] [DX], the outer planets of the system could cling on to their atmospheres. This finding is despite previous studies showing that TRAPPIST-1 might be so active that it blows away planetary atmospheres.
[...] The new results show that while all seven planets could retain their atmosphere, the more likely scenario is that the outermost two, -1g and -1h, have the best odds (and -1e and -1f have a weaker chance.)
This could be resolved by JWST observations.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Immerman on Wednesday January 03 2018, @05:57PM
> we may be biased towards discovering gas giants that are closer to their stars
Exactly, and no maybe about it. If we were watching our solar system from Alpha Centauri we'd probably still have no idea that Jupiter existed* - it hasn't even completed three orbits in the time we've been hunting for exoplanets, and you want to observe several orbits to have any sort of confidence in your discovery. Currently the exoplanet with the longest year we've discovered is Kepler 421-b*, at a paltry 704 days, vs. Jupiter's 4,333 days.
* even assuming Alpha Centauri was looking at our system edge-on, instead of the reality of being at a steep angle which makes detection far more challenging.