Signs of Alien Air Herald a New Era of Exoplanet Discoveries

Signs of Alien Air Herald a New Era of Exoplanet Discoveries

Wed February 1st, 2017
Lauren Hinkel

A recent study examined exoplanet GJ 1132 b and discovered the presence of an atmosphere, which may contain water vapor. MIT astrophysicist Sara Seager and astronomer and postdoc Julien de Wit, both unaffiliated with the study, weigh in on the new findings and the next steps that need to be taken to assess potential habitability.

“This is a great start, but we need higher signal-to-noise data and spectral resolution,” Sara Seager, a professor of astrophysics at MIT, says of the results. “We need to await the JWST [James Webb Space Telescope] to make any real progress on small-planet atmospheres.”

Read the full article here.