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An artist\u2019s impression of an exoplanet orbiting its star. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/p>\n
Scientists have discovered a rocky planet that is likely to have an atmosphere \u2014 and could be a host for life.<\/p>\n
In a paper published this week in Science1<\/a>, researchers report their observations of helium escaping from the atmosphere of a rocky exoplanet called LHS 1140b. The finding indicates that LHS 1140b has a helium-rich upper atmosphere, supporting previous evidence that small, rocky planets can have atmospheres<\/a>. And because LHS 1140b is located in the \u2018habitable zone\u2019 \u2014 the region surrounding a star in which an orbiting planet can maintain liquid water on its surface \u2014 the exoplanet could be a feasible site for life.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a major goal in the field of exoplanets to find atmospheres on rocky exoplanets,\u201d says Collin Cherubim, an planetary scientist at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He adds that for Earth-like life to exist, an atmosphere, liquid water and a rocky surface are required \u2014 and that LHS 1140b could have all three.<\/p>\n However, the study can\u2019t say for sure whether or not water is present on the exoplanet, and doesn\u2019t verify the exact composition of the planet\u2019s inner atmosphere. Researchers also say the results will need replicating in future observations of exoplanets. Nevertheless, the findings constitute an \u201camazing missing piece of the puzzle\u201d as to whether rocky exoplanets can have atmospheres, says Sara Seager, an astrophysicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.<\/p>\n Helium world<\/p>\n Astronomers have predicted that rocky exoplanets<\/a> can have atmospheres that regulate climate, act as shields against radiation and enable the presence of liquid water. However, observing exoplanet atmospheres is technically challenging, and researchers have mostly detected airless worlds or those with atmospheres too faint to discern.<\/p>\n Cherubim and his colleagues turned their attention to LHS 1140b, an exoplanet discovered in 2017 that orbits a red-dwarf star roughly 15 parsecs from Earth. They chose this planet because their computational models predicted that it would have escaping helium, and hence an atmosphere.<\/p>\n
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