Water found in habitable super-Earth’s atmosphere for first time

Approved ~ AA

Astronomers have finally uncovered water vapor in the atmosphere of a super-Earth exoplanet orbiting within the habitable zone of its star. The find means that liquid water could also exist on the rocky world’s surface, potentially even forming a global ocean.

The discovery, made with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, serves as the first detection of water vapor in the atmosphere of such a planet. And because the planet, dubbed K2-18 b, likely sports a temperature similar to Earth, the newfound water vapor makes the world one of the most promising candidates for follow-up studies with next-generation space telescopes.

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Article URL : http://www.astronomy.com/news/2019/09/water-found-in-habitable-super-earths-atmosphere-for-first-time