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.”
