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Atmospheres and Orbits

UK-led teams image the faintest exoplanet yet and find atmospheres on habitable rocky worlds.

Signalpoint TeamBrief

Science

The discovery of an atmosphere on LHS 1140b proves rocky worlds around active stars can survive stellar radiation — opening new targets in the search for extraterrestrial life.

BackgroundM-dwarf stars are the most common stars in the galaxy, but they emit harsh flares that typically strip away the atmospheres of nearby rocky planets. UK astronomers, who hold significant observing time on the James Webb Space Telescope, are leading efforts to determine if such worlds can support liquid water.

Points
  1. Researchers used Chile's Magellan Clay Telescope to detect escaping helium, proving that a thick and heavier atmospheric layer remains trapped closer to the planet's surface.
  2. Classified as a super-Earth with surface temperatures that could support liquid water, LHS 1140b represents a prime candidate for future biosignature searches.
  3. The escaping helium implies that heavier, life-supporting compounds like carbon dioxide or water vapor are trapped below, shielding the surface from lethal stellar winds.
SourcesFinancial Times: Atmosphere found on distant Earth-like planet for first time (opens in new tab)

Science

Directly imaging Beta Pictoris d proves Earth-based telescopes can isolate incredibly faint worlds — accelerating the search for habitable exoplanets.

BackgroundDirectly imaging exoplanets is exceptionally difficult because the light from the parent star typically drowns out the faint glow of orbiting worlds. Most of the thousands of known exoplanets have only been detected indirectly through gravitational wobbles or light dips.

Points
  1. The team used Chile's Very Large Telescope to isolate the planet's light, unlocking 11 years of archived telescope observations that confirm its stable orbital path.
  2. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope subsequently confirmed the direct image, detecting water vapor and carbon monoxide in the planet's atmosphere to help scientists model its climate.
  3. Beta Pictoris d has a mass 2.4 times that of Jupiter, providing researchers with a crucial cosmic laboratory to study how gas giants form and migrate over millennia.
SourcesBBC Sky at Night Magazine: This is the faintest alien world ever photographed from Earth – and it proves exoplanet science is getting ridiculous (opens in new tab)University of Oxford: Planet found after ten-year game of hide-and-seek (opens in new tab)

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