The rocky exoplanet LHS1140b is the first to have a gas ring detected

It is a planet that has already been observed before LHS1140b. It orbits a small red M-type star less than 50 light-years from Earth, which is quite close in terms of the universe.

The planet is now the most promising target from which to look for the possibility of life outside our own solar system, a Harvard University researcher Collin Cherubim says The Guardian – in the newspaper.

Life however, it may not be on a planet in the traditional sense, according to a researcher from the University of Arizona Sukrit Ranjan in New Scientist magazine. So, in his opinion, it is not a new Earth.

According to Ranjan, the planet is otherwise interesting.

Harvard University researchers discovered helium in its gas atmosphere, which is in an excited state. Helium is apparently leaking from the planet’s atmosphere, the researchers write Sciencein the journal.

Helium leakage has not been seen in all observations. According to Cherubim, the observation is not necessarily incorrect. One reason can be, for example, the variation of the radiation of the parent star, which affects the helium.

Perception is quite extraordinary if it is confirmed, says the astronomer René Doyon Science- on the news page of the science journal. The University of Montreal researcher was not himself involved in the study.

Planet LHS1140b has a mass equivalent to 5–6 Earths. It differs from the rocky planets of the Solar System.

In a way, it resembles large gas planets, because there must be a thick gas ring above the rocky surface, says the researcher Natalie Allen Johns from Hopkins University in New Scientist.

There is no information yet on the structure of the gas cycle. In any case, the gas cycle gives hope that there could be some kind of life on the planet.

LHS 1140b orbits its star at a suitable distance, in the so-called habitable zone, which may contain liquid water. A gas cycle could hold water and protect the planet’s surface from radiation.

M-type stars are long-livedso life could theoretically have time to develop on the planets orbiting them.

A gas cycle detection from the planet is difficult. The bright light of the parent star makes it difficult to detect the light reflected by the planet. The idea is to detect which wavelengths of light from the star are absorbed by the gas ring.

Cherubim first modeled what could be observed. Presumably, in the gas atmosphere, the light elements hydrogen and helium are the first to rise to the upper gas atmosphere over time. The heavier nitrogen and oxygen stay closer to the planet’s surface.

Helium was detected by the Magellan Clay telescope in Chile, which has a high-precision infrared spectrograph.