Nasa finds icy ?super-Earth? that could be home to alien life

Scientists using Nasa’s Webb telescope have found an icy “super-Earth” that could be home to alien life.

When researchers first discovered the planet, known as LHS 1140 b, they thought it might be like a very small version of a gaseous neighbour Neptune.

But new research using Nasa data has shown that it may have an atmosphere and perhaps even liquid water. That could make it one of the more promising places to search for alien life, the researchers suggest.

LHS 1140 b orbits around a low-mass red dwarf star that is about a fifth the size of our own Sun. It is exciting to scientists because they believe it could be in the “Goldilocks’ Zone”, where it is neither too close or too far from its star and thus might have liquid water.