Planet 48 light-years away has 3 key ingredients scientists seek for life

This might be the closest humans have come to finding another planet that can support life. In a shocking discovery, astronomers have detected an atmosphere around an Earth-like, rocky planet about 48 light-years away.The planet, called LHS 1140 b, is orbiting in the habitable zone around its star meaning that it is at the right distance away from its star for liquid water to potentially exist on the planet. According to the new research published in the journal Science, it has an atmosphere that contains helium and is also the first rocky planet to have an atmosphere detected directly."We have actually detected directly the helium present in the atmosphere itself, and that's the first direct detection for any rocky exoplanet, which is really exciting … and then there's this added bonus that it's in the habitable zone, which is super exciting for astrobiology and habitability and searching for life," lead…