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Exoplanet K2-18b (artist's impression)

Exoplanet K2-18b (artist's impression)


Date: 11 September 2019
Satellite: Hubble Space Telescope
Copyright: ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser, CC BY 4.0

This artist's impression shows the planet K2-18b, it's host star and an accompanying planet in this system. K2-18b is now the only super-Earth exoplanet known to host both water and temperatures that could support life.

UCL researchers used archive data from 2016 and 2017 captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and developed open-source algorithms to analyse the starlight filtered through K2-18b's atmosphere. The results revealed the molecular signature of water vapour, also indicating the presence of hydrogen and helium in the planet's atmosphere.

 
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Creative Commons License

Last Update: 13 September 2019
29-Mar-2024 15:13 UT

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https://sci.esa.int/s/WvB2oGW

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