Some 48 light-years away, in the constellation Cetus, lies an ice-covered planet straight out of Star Wars central casting. One hemisphere always faces the host star, creating a small melted ocean on the permanent day side that gives it the appearance of a gargantuan eyeball.
What’s more, this watery orb, almost twice as large as Earth, may be our best shot at finding habitable conditions elsewhere in the universe.
That, anyway, is the most up-to-date depiction of LHS 1140 b, which we can't see directly. The planet (so named because it orbits a red dwarf star called LHS 1140), was discovered in 2017, and even then it seemed an auspicious place for life.
Now, in a recent paper, researchers at the Université de Montréal have upped the ante. After analyzing data from the James Webb Space Telescope, they concluded the planet is more likely a rocky, super-Earth than a gaseous mini-Neptune and that it probably has a nitrogen-rich atmosphere — two crucial factors for the emergence of biology as we know it.
