Gliese 1214 b, the first of six known potentially water-covered exoplanets to be identified, was found in 2009.
Gliese 1214 b, the first of six known potentially water-covered exoplanets to be identified, was found in 2009. It is forty-two light-years away and six times larger than the Earth. It lies outside the habitable zone, orbiting seventy times closer to its mother sun than the Earth does. It may get as hot as 280 degrees Celsius, so life as we know it probably cannot exist. But by using various filters to analyze light scattered through the planet’s atmosphere as it transits the mother star, significant amounts of water have been confirmed. The water may not be in familiar liquid form due to the planet’s temperature and pressure. Instead, Gliese 1214 b might be a steam planet.
