- According to the the journal Nature Astronomy, water has been discovered for the first time in the atmosphere of an exoplanet named K2-18b which has Earth-like temperatures that could support life as we know it.
- Eight times the mass of Earth and twice as big, K2-18b orbits in its star’s “habitable zone” at a distance – neither too far nor too close – where water can exist in liquid form.
- Of the more than 4,000 exoplanets detected to date, this is the first known to combine a rocky surface and an atmosphere with water.
- Astronomers at the Center for Space Exochemistry Data at the University College London in the United Kingdom used data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to find water vapor in the atmosphere of K2-18b.
- If confirmed by further studies, this will be the only exoplanet known to have both water in its atmosphere and temperatures that could sustain liquid water on a rocky surface.
- Liquid water would only be possible if the planet turns out to be terrestrial in nature, rather than resembling a small version of Neptune.
About K2-18b
- K2-18b, a “super-Earth”, was discovered by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope in 2015.
- It is an exoplanet around a small red dwarf star about 110 light-years away in the constellation Leo.
- It has a mass eight times greater than Earth’s. That means the surface gravity on this planet would be significantly higher than on our planet.
CLICK HERE FOR CURRENT AFFAIRS OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS
