Share to ClassroomScientists Find Air on Far Planet
Scientists have found air around a planet far from Earth. The planet is called LHS 1140b. It is about 48 light years away. It moves around a small, cool star. This is the first time scientists found air on a rocky planet like this.
A planet needs the right distance from its star. Then it is not too hot or too cold. Water can stay on the surface. Scientists know more than 6,000 planets around other stars. Only a few dozen are small and rocky like Earth.
Scientists used a big telescope in Chile. They saw a gas called helium leave the planet. This planet is bigger and heavier than Earth. Helium can not make life. But other gases may be there too. The gas came from very high above the planet.
