Webb’s Super-Earth Discovery: Potentially Habitable World Just 48 Light-Years Away

A team of astronomers has made an exciting discovery about the temperate exoplanet LHS 1140 b: it could be a promising “super-Earth” covered in ice or water.

LHS 1140 b, once thought to be a mini-Neptune, is now considered a possible super-Earth with a nitrogen-rich atmosphere, as suggested by James Webb Space Telescope data. Located in a habitable zone, it may have conditions favorable for liquid water, making it a key focus for future astrobiological studies.

When it was first discovered, astronomers speculated that the exoplanet LHS 1140 b might be a mini-Neptune. This means it would be an essentially gaseous planet, but very small in size compared to Neptune. However, after analyzing data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) collected in December 2023 — combined with previous data from other space telescopes such as Spitzer, Hubble, and TESS — scientists have come to a very different conclusion.