LHS 1140 b
JWST data suggest a potentially habitable water world — maybe a global ocean.
M4.5 red dwarf · orbits LHS 1140 · discovered 2017
The exact inputs the model saw
14 features, in the model's own order: your 4 profile preferences, then this world's 10 published physical parameters.
| feature | wire name | value | unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preferred star temperatureyours | prof_target_teff | 4400 | K |
| Preferred sunlightyours | prof_target_insol | 1 | × Earth |
| Max distanceyours | prof_max_dist | 150 | light-years |
| Size preferenceyours | prof_size_focus | 1 | Earth radii |
| Planet radius | pl_rade | 1.73 | Earth radii |
| Planet mass | pl_masse | 5.6 | Earth masses |
| Equilibrium temperature | pl_eqt | 226 | K |
| Sunlight received | pl_insol | 0.43 | × Earth flux |
| Orbital period | pl_orbper | 24.74 | days |
| Orbit semi-major axis | pl_orbsmax | 0.0946 | AU |
| Star temperature | st_teff | 3096 | K |
| Star radius | st_rad | 0.216 | Solar radii |
| Star mass | st_mass | 0.184 | Solar masses |
| Distance from Earth | sys_dist | 48.8 | light-years |
From the research corpus
Passages that ship inside the model's IPFS bundle — real citations, content-addressed with the model itself.
“LHS 1140 b is a small planet orbiting in the habitable zone of its M4.5V red-dwarf host, located about 48 to 49 light-years away in the constellation Cetus. It has a radius of roughly 1.73 Earth radii and a mass near 5.6 Earth masses, placing it at the boundary between super-Earths and possible mini-Neptunes. Earlier mass and radius constraints indicated it had either a thick hydrogen-rich envelope or a substantial fraction of its mass…”
LHS 1140 b is a potentially habitable water world · System parameters and the mini-Neptune question
“JWST transmission spectroscopy of LHS 1140 b strongly excluded the mini-Neptune scenario. NIRSpec observations between roughly 1.7 and 5.2 micrometers showed an absence of the prominent methane and carbon-dioxide features expected from a cloud-free, hydrogen-dominated atmosphere, and the analysis eliminated hydrogen-rich atmospheres as an explanation for the planet's relatively low density. With the hydrogen envelope ruled out, the…”
LHS 1140 b Is a Potentially Habitable Water World · JWST exclusion of the mini-Neptune scenario
“Researchers concluded that LHS 1140 b could maintain liquid-water oceans if it possesses the climate-stabilizing mechanism needed to keep a moderate-size carbon-dioxide and nitrogen-dominated atmosphere, analogous to the carbonate-silicate cycle that regulates Earth's climate over geological time. The authors stated that LHS 1140 b may well present the best current opportunity to detect and characterize a habitable world, given its…”
LHS 1140 b Is a Potentially Habitable Water World · Water-world habitability conclusion