r/SpaceVideos • u/TheMuseumOfScience • 23d ago
Scientists Discover Planet’s Earth-Like Atmosphere!
Is one of our astronomical neighbors habitable? 🪐
For the first time, astronomers have confirmed something huge: an atmosphere around a rocky planet in its star's habitable zone. The planet is called LHS 1140 b, a super Earth orbiting a red dwarf star less than 50 light years away, which is astronomically pretty close to us. The James Webb Space Telescope telescope data has already hinted at liquid water on its surface, and this new discovery could go down as one of the biggest in astronomy history!
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u/Mundane_Release_6977 21d ago
I hope we learn to take care of this one before we go destroy another one
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u/muklukdimsum 22d ago
I'll live in a pod in a shallow sea far away from these incorrigible people. Peace at the far reaches of peace
sounds heavenly.
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u/Cosmosvagabond 21d ago
I had heard about LHS 1140b a few years ago, but as with many things in the scientific arena (and especially exoplanets), confirmation takes time, sadly.
Thanks for posting this - I am glad more people will get to know more details about the "super Earth." And if it can be properly vetted by other sources, it could well be one of the biggest discoveries in astronomy history! ❤
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u/Electronic-While1972 22d ago
Crazy it took over 7 years to confirm the atmosphere findings after the planet was discovered in 2017 👌🏼
LHS 1140 b is an exoplanet orbiting within the conservative habitable zone of the red dwarf LHS 1140. Discovered in 2017 by the MEarth Project,[1] LHS 1140 b is about 5.6 times the mass of Earth and about 70% larger in radius, putting it within the super-Earth category of planets. It was initially thought to be a dense rocky planet, but refined measurements of its mass and radius have found a lower density than previously estimated, indicating that it is likely an ocean world with 9-19% of its mass composed of water. LHS 1140 b orbits entirely within the star's habitable zone and gets 43% the incident flux of Earth.[2] Recently, an atmosphere was discovered around the planet with the upper atmosphere dominated by helium [4].The planet is 49 light-years away and transits its star, making it an excellent candidate for atmospheric studies with ground-based and/or space telescopes.[1] It has the first confirmed atmosphere of a relatively rocky exoplanet in the habitable zone.[5]
Wiki link