Space

Atmosphere On 'Earth-Like' Planet Detected for First Time

Is LHS 1140b a landmark discovery in the search for alien life or just a scientific curiosity beyond human reach?

Published JUL 17

Atmosphere On 'Earth-Like' Planet Detected for First Time

Story

Image credit: Corey S. Powell via X

The Facts

Astronomers have detected a helium-rich atmosphere around LHS 1140b, a rocky exoplanet orbiting within the habitable zone of a red dwarf star roughly 48 light-years from Earth — the first confirmed atmosphere on a habitable-zone rocky planet outside our solar system.
The New York Times
PHYS
The findings, published in the journal Science on Thursday, are based on observations made in 2024 using the WINERED Spectrograph on the Magellan Observatory in Chile, which detected helium escaping from LHS 1140b's atmosphere. A follow-up observation in 2025 found no such signal.
Science
404 Media
Financial Times
LHS 1140b is approximately 5.6 times the mass of Earth and about 1.7 times its diameter. It completes one orbit around its host star every 24.7 days and is tidally locked, meaning it always presents the same face to its star.
The New York Times
Time
The host star of LHS 1140b is a red dwarf, the most common type of star in the galaxy. Unlike many red dwarfs, it is relatively quiet, exposing the planet to roughly 10 times the X-ray energy Earth receives — far less than the 400 times recorded at Proxima Centauri b.
ABC Australia
Time
Financial Times
Lead researcher Collin Cherubim, who conducted the work during his doctoral studies at Harvard University, developed theoretical models predicting that LHS 1140b would have a helium-dominated upper atmosphere.
The Guardian
Harvard University
No atmosphere was detected around LHS 1140c, a smaller and more strongly irradiated planet in the same system. Researchers say the planet's atmosphere has likely persisted for more than 3 billion years, making it a priority target for future biosignature searches.
Science
PHYS
New Scientist

Sources Split

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The Spin

Narrative A

Detecting a helium atmosphere on an Earth-sized planet is a landmark achievement that fundamentally advances the search for life beyond our Solar System. This breakthrough proves red dwarf stars could sustain habitable worlds. The sheer difficulty of pulling this off makes the discovery even more extraordinary.

Corey S. Powell on X

Michael W. Deem on X

Narrative B

This is an intriguing discovery but shouldn't be oversold — LHS 1140b's crushing gravity, freezing potential and 49-light-year distance make it a scientific curiosity, not a realistic candidate for human life. Any ecosystem there would be utterly alien. Robot explorers are the only practical option for centuries to come.

Jubal Hardin on X