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Helium Escape

All articles tagged with #helium escape

space1 month ago•12 min saved

Helium leak confirms atmosphere on first rocky world in a habitable zone

Astronomers detected a helium signal escaping from LHS 1140 b duringtransits, providing the first atmospheric confirmation for a rocky planet in a star’s habitable zone and placing it 48 light-years away in Cetus. The finding shows an atmosphere exists, but leaves questions about its composition, pressure and surface conditions. The observation used the Magellan telescope in 2024, with a recheck in 2025 that yielded a non-detection, suggesting the escape can vary with the star’s high-energy output; further repeated helium detections and Webb observations are planned to probe the planet’s gases and potential habitability.

via Space Daily|

#atmosphere #exoplanets #habitable-zone

space1 month ago•11 min saved

Rocky habitable-zone world reveals an atmosphere for the first time

Astronomers detected helium escaping from the rocky super-Earth LHS 1140 b, the first rocky planet in its star’s habitable zone to show an atmosphere, suggesting a long-lived atmospheric reservoir despite radiation from its relatively quiet M-dwarf host. The planet is about 1.73 Earth radii and 5.6 Earth masses, transits every 24.7 days, and the helium signal was observed with the WINERED spectrograph on the Magellan telescope in 2024 (with a partial repeat in 2025). This points to atmospheric escape from the upper atmosphere, while the exact lower-atmosphere composition and surface conditions (including liquid water) remain uncertain. Future observations with Hubble and Webb could reveal heavier gases like nitrogen, CO2, or water vapor. No evidence of life is claimed; the result marks a major step toward testing atmospheric retention on rocky planets around red dwarfs.

via Space Daily|

#atmosphere #exoplanets #habitable-zone