This artist’s impression shows the planet K2-18b and its red dwarf host star. New research shows K2-18b could have the right conditions to support life.

(ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser)

At a Glance

Exoplanet K2-18b is 124 light-years from Earth.Researchers had previously determined its atmosphere has water vapor.The new study says the planet could also have liquid water on its surface.

An exoplanet 124 light-years from Earth that could potentially be habitable has given researchers a new place to look for signs of life.

The planet K2-18b, which is 2.6 times the radius and 8.6 times the mass of Earth, orbits within the habitable zone of a red dwarf star. That means its distance from the star allows temperatures under which liquid water could exist.

This past September, researchers detected water vapor in the planet's hydrogen-rich atmosphere. But they still didn't know whether liquid water existed beneath the atmosphere – one of the conditions needed to support life.

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Now, a team from the University of Cambridge has used the existing knowledge about the atmosphere of K2-18b and its mass and radius to determine the planet has a large, hydrogen-rich envelope, but the atmosphere also contains a significant amount of water vapor as well as , according to Advanced Science News.

Using all that data, the team created computer models of what a planet with K2-18b's dimensions and atmosphere , a news release from Cambridge said.

They found the planet could be anything from rocky with a pure iron core covered with a hydrogen/helium atmosphere, a smaller version of Neptune or a water world , according to the study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

"We find that K2-18b has a realistic chance of being habitable," the researchers wrote.

They added that the lower-than-expected levels of methane and ammonia in the atmosphere suggest the possibility of biochemical processes on the planet.

"We argue that planets such as K2-18b can indeed have the potential to approach habitable conditions, and searches for biosignatures should not necessarily be restricted to smaller rocky planets," they said.

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