ISSTI Research Assistant Professor and NASA Space Research Scientist Dr. Thomas Fauchez contributed to a team that used data taken using the James Webb Space Telescope to detect a possible atmosphere on exoplanet LHS 1140 b. This would be the first time a rocky planet with an atmosphere has been found in the habitable zone outside the solar system. Fauchez used the Planetary Spectrum Generator, a tool created at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, to analyze the Webb data with simulations of transmitted light spectra, comparing these spectra under various atmospheric conditions, to identify which scenario best matched the telescope observations. The new findings will soon be published in The Astrophysical Letters Journal.

ISSTI Research Associate Professor and NASA Planetary Scientist Dr. Lucas Paganini led a team of researchers who have detected plumes of water vapor emitted from Jupiter’s moon Europa. The discovery, published in Nature Astronomy , supports the hypothesis that there is an ocean of water below the moon frozen surface. The possibility of liquid water makes Europa one of the current leading candidates for life in our solar system, outside of Earth. For more on this exciting science, check out the NASA video and space.com article, The Weird Plumes of Jupiter's Moon Europa Are Spewing Water Vapor.