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2026-08-01 02:05 UTC → 2026-08-23 04:09 UTC ·
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Atmosphere confirmed on habitable‑zone habitable-zone exoplanet LHS 1140 b
Follow‑up Follow-up observations reported on 20 July 2026 reaffirm the presence of a thin, helium‑rich helium-rich upper atmosphere on the rocky super‑Earth super-Earth LHS 1140 b. Using the Magellan Clay telescope in Chile, an international team led by Harvard astronomer Collin Cherubim reproduced the helium escape signal first detected during a rare September 2024 alignment with the WINERED spectrograph and published in *Science* Science on 16 July 2024. A weakened signal was noted in 2025, and a clear detection was captured again in mid‑July mid-July 2026, confirming the original finding. The 2026 *Science* paper, highlighted in releases on 24 July and 31 July 2026, Science paper emphasizes that this is the first unambiguous spectroscopic confirmation of an atmosphere on a terrestrial planet within the habitable zone. A Science news release on 24 July 2026 quoted astrophysicist Astrophysicist Eirik Newth, noting Newth noted the faint helium signature escaping from a planet 48 light‑years away. light-years away, describing the result as “the first confirmation of something that was previously only theory, that Earth-like exoplanets also have atmospheres.” On 25 July 2026 2026, the same team reported early JWST data suggesting a dense CO₂‑rich CO2-rich atmosphere on TRAPPIST‑1 TRAPPIST-1 b, extending the implication that multiple habitable‑zone super‑Earths habitable-zone super-Earths can retain atmospheres. A later article on 31 July 2026 Subsequent reports described LHS 1140 b as a five‑Earth‑mass five-to-six Earth-mass world with a low‑density low-density component likely including water, calling it “the best place to look for life outside the solar system at this point.” The findings Findings continue to guide upcoming JWST and next‑generation next-generation mission observations aimed at probing atmospheric composition and liquid‑water liquid-water potential.