The Existence of an Atmosphere Surrounding an Earth-like Planet

For the first time, astronomers have detected an atmosphere around an Earth-like, rocky planet orbiting another star. The planet, called LHS 1140 b, sits in the habitable zone of a red dwarf roughly forty-eight light-years away. According to a study published in Science, the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard and Smithsonian observed helium escaping from the planet's atmosphere—marking the strongest evidence yet that worlds with Earth-like conditions could retain atmospheres beyond our solar system and potentially support life.

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