Helium clues reveal atmosphere on rocky exoplanet in the habitable zone
TL;DR
Astronomers detected helium escaping from the rocky exoplanet LHS 1140 b, providing the strongest evidence yet that a terrestrial world in another star’s habitable zone can retain an atmosphere. The signal was observed as the planet transited its star using the WINERED spectrograph, indicating a thin upper atmosphere and enabling atmospheric study of potentially habitable worlds, though it does not prove habitability. Future observations will aim to characterize the rest of the atmosphere and investigate whether oceans or other life-friendly features might exist on LHS 1140 b.
- 'It's absolutely exciting!': Astronomers discover an atmosphere around an Earth-like planet in the habitable zone for first time ever Live Science
- Astronomers Find an Atmosphere on a Nearby Earthlike Planet The New York Times
- Earth-like exoplanet found to have an atmosphere The Guardian
- First atmosphere detected on a habitable-zone rocky world Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
- Scientists Discover a Planet With the Most Earth-like Conditions Yet Time Magazine
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