Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope data have concluded that planet LHS 1150 b could sustain biological life, including human life, and it’s just 48 light years from us.
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Excerpt from scitechdaily.com
Temperate exoplanet LHS 1140 b may be a world completely covered in ice (left) similar to Jupiter’s moon Europa or may be an ice world with a liquid substellar ocean and a cloudy atmosphere (center). LHS 1140 b is 1.7 times the size of our planet Earth (right) and is the most promising habitable zone exoplanet yet found in the search for liquid water beyond the Solar System. Credit: Benoit Gougeon, Université de Montréal
A team of astronomers has made an exciting discovery about the temperate exoplanet LHS 1140 b: it could be a promising “super-Earth” covered in ice or water.
LHS 1140 b, once thought to be a mini-Neptune, is now considered a possible super-Earth with a nitrogen-rich atmosphere, as suggested by James Webb Space Telescope data. Located in a habitable zone, it may have conditions favorable for liquid water, making it a key focus for future astrobiological studies.
When it was first discovered, astronomers speculated that the exoplanet LHS 1140 b might be a mini-Neptune. This means it would be an essentially gaseous planet, but very small in size compared to Neptune. However, after analyzing data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) collected in December 2023 — combined with previous data from other space telescopes such as Spitzer, Hubble, and TESS — scientists have come to a very different conclusion.
Located about 48 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cetus, LHS 1140 b appears to be one of the most promising exoplanets in its star’s habitable zone, potentially harboring an atmosphere and even an ocean of liquid water. The results of this discovery by Université de Montréal astronomers are available on ArXiv and will soon be published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
