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<\/p>\n\u2018Super-Earth\u2019 planet shows signs it could have an atmosphere<\/p>\n
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Scientists say they have detected promising signs that a planet orbiting a star 49 light-years<\/a> from Earth could have an atmosphere, making it potentially suitable for life.<\/p>\n Called LHS 1140b, the object is about five times the mass of our planet, or a \u201csuper-Earth<\/a>.\u201d This planet orbits around its star in the \u201cGoldilocks zone<\/a>,\u201d also known as the habitable zone, meaning its surface temperature is not too hot or too cold for liquid water to exist.<\/p>\n Related video above | ISS astronaut captures stunning time-lapse of southern aurora<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe it is also predominantly a rocky planet, based on its mass and its radius measurements, which gives us a density estimate,\u201d said Collin Cherubim, a planetary scientist and lead author of a paper on the finding, published<\/a> July 16 in the journal Science.<\/p>\n \u201cIt appears to be consistent with Earth, meaning it might have an iron core and a silicate mantle, plus some sort of low-density component, which is probably a combination of water and, now we know, an atmosphere,\u201d said Cherubim, a NASA Sagan Fellow at the University of Chicago. He conducted the research during his doctoral studies at Harvard University.<\/p>\n Astronomers have discovered more than 6,200 exoplanets<\/a> since uncovering the first ones in the 1990s. The Hubble Space Telescope found evidence<\/a> in 2001 of an atmosphere on a gas giant exoplanet orbiting a star about 150 light-years from Earth.<\/p>\n If further observations confirm the findings, LHS 1140b would mark the first discovery of an atmosphere on a rocky planet in the habitable zone of another star.<\/p>\n Signs of a habitable planet<\/p>\n Looking at the atmospheres of faraway rocky planets is difficult, because these celestial bodies are small and their atmospheres are thin. Astronomers must wait for a planet to move in front of its host star. Similar to an eclipse, as the light filters through the atmosphere, it can reveal the signature of a gas.<\/p>\n There is no evidence of life or a life-supporting atmosphere on LHS 1140b now, but Cherubim said he believes it\u2019s a formidable candidate for potential signatures of extraterrestrial life.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s the best place to look for life outside the solar system at this point,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s mostly rocky, it\u2019s at the right temperature to support liquid water on the surface, and it has an atmosphere \u2014 those are the three key ingredients we look for.\u201d<\/p>\n To spot the atmosphere, Cherubim first developed a model<\/a> based on the widespread assumption that many planets form with atmospheres dominated by hydrogen and helium \u2014 the most abundant elements in the universe. As some of these planets evolve into rocky bodies, they lose most of their hydrogen but can hold onto helium, because it\u2019s slightly heavier.<\/p>\n Cherubim used the model to find known exoplanets whose mass, radius and temperature would make them likely to have undergone this process, and then he searched for the telltale helium. Using the Magellan Clay telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, in September 2024, he found helium escaping from LHS 1140b.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re stripping the hydrogen, keeping the helium, and you end up with this sort of helium world,\u201d he said. \u201cWe believe LHS 1140b is in that sweet spot, where it lost its hydrogen and it kept its helium, which is now slowly escaping.\u201d<\/p>\n Helium alone would likely not be suitable for supporting life, but it\u2019s hoped that other gases, such as oxygen, may accompany it.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t have any other detections of any other molecules in the atmosphere yet, but I\u2019m optimistic,\u201d Cherubim said. \u201cI would go ahead and bet that we will find something eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Can we maybe find water next?\u2019<\/p>\n