Is the human race getting closer to finding an alternative planet to Earth that can also sustain life? The answer, sadly, is no, based on a recent discovery by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The space agency announced on Tuesday that a team of international space scientists were able to analyse for the first time the atmosphere of an exoplanet in the class known as "super-Earths."
Super-Earths, the most common type of planet in the Milky Way Galaxy, got their name for having masses way larger than that of Earth's. For this particular study, the scientists studied exoplanet 55 Cancri e, a super-Earth with a mass of eight Earth-masses.
Using data gathered using the Hubble Space Telescope operated both by the NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), the international research team found out that this exoplanet, located 40 light years away from our planet, has a dry atmosphere without any indications of water vapour—thus incapable of sustaining life.
The data also showed traces of hydrogen cyanide in the exoplanet's atmosphere, which is a very poisonous gas.
Angelos Tsiaras, a PhD student from the University College London (UCL), nevertheless described the results of his team's research as "very exciting."
"It's the first time that we have been able to find the spectral fingerprints that show the gases present in the atmosphere of a super-Earth," Tsiaras explained in a statement posted on the Hubble Space Telescope's website.
"The observations of 55 Cancri e's atmosphere suggest that the planet has managed to cling on to a significant amount of hydrogen and helium from the nebula from which it originally formed," he added.
UCL space scientist Giovanna Tinetti, who was also part of the research team, nevertheless said these findings give astronomers an idea of how exoplanets are formed.
"This result gives a first insight into the atmosphere of a super-Earth. We now have clues as to what the planet is currently like and how it might have formed and evolved, and this has important implications for 55 Cancri e and other super-Earths," Tinetti explained.
