Scientists have discovered a rocky planet that likely has an atmosphere and could support life.

In an article published today in Science¹Researchers report their observations of helium escaping from the atmosphere of a rocky exoplanet called LHS 1140b. The finding indicates that LHS 1140b has a helium-rich upper atmosphere, supporting previous evidence that small, rocky planets can have atmospheres. And because LHS 1140b is located in the “habitable zone” (the region surrounding a star in which an orbiting planet can maintain liquid water on its surface), the exoplanet could be a feasible site for life.

“It has been a major goal in the exoplanet field to find atmospheres on rocky exoplanets,” says Collin Cherubim, an astrophysicist at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He adds that Earth-like life requires an atmosphere, liquid water and a rocky surface, and that LHS 1140b could have all three.

However, the study cannot say for sure whether water is present on the exoplanet and does not verify the exact composition of the planet’s inner atmosphere. The researchers also say the results will need to be replicated in future exoplanet observations. Still, the findings constitute a “surprising missing piece of the puzzle” about whether rocky exoplanets can have atmospheres, says Sara Seager, an astrophysicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.

helium world

Astronomers have predicted that rocky exoplanets may have atmospheres that regulate climate, act as shields against radiation and allow the presence of liquid water. However, observing the atmospheres of exoplanets is technically challenging, and researchers have mostly detected worlds without air or with atmospheres too weak to discern.

Cherubim and his colleagues focused their attention on LHS 1140b, an exoplanet discovered in 2017 that orbits a red dwarf star about 15 parsecs from Earth. They chose this planet because their computer models predicted it would have a helium leak and therefore an atmosphere.

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The team used the Magellan Clay telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, observing the planet for 6.5 hours, once in 2024 and again in 2025. On both occasions, the team obtained near-infrared absorption spectra of the exoplanet.

Their observations revealed a large amount of helium escaping from the outer atmosphere. The composition of the interior atmosphere, however, remains unclear. Cherubim suspects that this inner atmosphere contains water and other small, oxidized molecules such as carbon dioxide, but this has not yet been verified with experimental data.

One data point