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Josh Lothringer Profile picture
Josh Lothringer
@JDLothringer
Postdoc at Johns Hopkins University researching exoplanet atmospheres; PhD UA/LPL.
Sep 11, 2019 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
So we found water vapor in the atmosphere of a 9 Earth-mass exoplanet in the habitable zone! After observing 8 transits of K2-18b with HST/WFC3, we (led by Björn Benneke) find a significant water feature:

arxiv.org/abs/1909.04642 K2-18b receives only 5% more radiation than the Earth, leaving it with an equilibrium temperature of 265 K. This is the coolest exoplanet that we've detected water in. While not a true Earth-analogue due to its size, this bodes well for our exploration of small planets.