Natural Sciences Active Updated Jul 17, 2026
The first atmosphere found on a small, temperate rocky world
Astronomers spent decades hunting for an atmosphere around a small, rocky planet sitting in its star's habitable zone without success, wondering if small stars simply strip these worlds bare. LHS 1140b, 50 light years away, just became the first exception, and unpublished James Webb Space Telescope data could soon reveal whether it holds an ocean or is closer to a scaled-down gas giant.
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Jul 17, 2026 Latest
Collin Cherubim of Harvard and colleagues used the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile to detect excited-state helium leaking from LHS 1140b, a rocky planet in its small star's habitable zone, the first confirmed atmosphere on a small temperate rocky world. Cherubim said the planet has now become the best place to search for life outside our solar system.
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