This Earth-like planet might have an atmosphere

A picture of what the planet known as TRAPPIST-1e might look like

Are there other planets like Earth out there in the universe?

Well, a team of researchers from the University of St Andrews, in Scotland, have found evidence to suggest there might be!

The researchers have been studying an Earth-like planet around 40 light years away called TRAPPIST-1e using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

They discovered that the planet may have an atmosphere like Earth, and the potential for oceans and ice, which are essential for life.

There are seven planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system

"TRAPPIST-1e has long been considered one of the best habitable zone planets to search for an atmosphere," said Dr Ryan MacDonald, from the University of St Andrews.

Habitable, means a place that is good enough to live in, and a habitable zone, is a part of space that has the right conditions to support life - not too hot, or too cold - it's why its sometimes called the Goldilocks zone!

In order to learn more about TRAPPIST-1e, the researchers aimed the James Webb telescope's powerful NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) at the planet's solar system, and recorded it as it passed in front of it's sun/star.

From this they looked at how starlight passes through the planet's atmosphere - if it has one - and how it changes can tell them more about the type of chemicals that are in the atmosphere.

However, the researchers also had to watch out for starspots created by the magnetic fields of the nearby red dwarf star.

They spent a year going over their research and carefully correcting any data that might have come from the dwarf star, before they could properly study the planet's atmosphere.

The scientists are able to learn more about the planet by observing it, as it passes in front of it's star

The researchers are now looking at more observations of TRAPPIST-1e to help them to learn more about the planet and its potential atmosphere.

"In the coming years we will go from four JWST observations of TRAPPIST-1e to nearly 20, we finally have the telescope and tools to search for habitable conditions in other star systems, which makes today one of the most exciting times for astronomy," said Dr MacDonald.