Astronomers at Harvard have identified an atmospheric layer surrounding LHS 1140b, a rocky planet orbiting within the habitable zone of a red star. This marks the first detection of an atmosphere around an Earth-like world positioned in the potentially life-supporting region of a distant star system, reinforcing the possibility that worlds with Earth-like conditions exist beyond our solar system.

The upper atmosphere contains helium, which cannot sustain life on its own, but researchers indicate that other chemical compounds capable of supporting biology may exist at lower altitudes. After the discovery of more than 6,000 exoplanets over recent decades, relatively few rocky planets have been found in habitable zones, and none previously shown to possess atmospheres. While this finding represents significant progress toward addressing whether life exists elsewhere in the universe, scientists emphasise that confirmation of biological activity has not been achieved, with other candidate worlds such as TRAPPIST-1e and K2-18b remaining under study.