Emily Chan
Further research is needed to understand the entirety of the planet’s surface conditions and determine if it is habitable, as the results are still very tentative.
“Detecting an Earth-like atmosphere on a temperate planet is pushing Webb’s capabilities to its limits—it’s feasible; we just need lots of observing time,” René Doyon, a physicist at the University of Montreal, said.
“The current hint of a nitrogen-rich atmosphere begs for confirmation with more data. We need at least one more year of observations to confirm that LHS-1140b has an atmosphere and likely two or three more to detect carbon dioxide.”
