Artist's concept. Credit: NASA
Nearly a decade after the discovery of LHS 1140b, a rocky exoplanet in the habitable zone of a nearby low-mass star, a new study reveals that the object may have its own atmosphere.
University of Florida Assistant Professor of Astronomy Jason Dittmann first discovered the planet in 2016. Now, he is a co-author of the new study, published in Science, that uses helium escape to explain a potential atmosphere.
"The exciting part about this paper, and why I think it was accepted into Science, was that this is the first time that we're seeing a rocky, Earth-like planet that could still have an atmosphere," Dittmann said.
How the planet was found
