The first-of-its-kind finding is a major advance in the search for exoplanets that might be habitable. The milestone, led by Collin Cherubim PhD ’26, David Charbonneau, and Robin Wordsworth, was published in Science in July.
“People are generally interested in the big questions: Are we alone? Is there life beyond the Earth or beyond our solar system? To that end, this study reveals the first atmosphere discovered on a rocky, planet in the habitable zone of a star outside of our solar system,” said Cherubim, who conducted the research as part of his doctoral studies at the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
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