Astronomers lead by Charles Cadieux are exploring a potentially life-sustaining planet called LHS 1140b which resides 50 lightyears from Earth. This planet was first discovered in 2017, but with the growing climate crisis and more advanced space technology, scientists have begun to explore LHS 1140b more. Would this planet be able to sustain life forms that currently reside on Earth? Are there already living organisms living on it?
The James-Webb Space Telescope has allowed many new images of LHS 1140b to contribute towards its research. It’s about 7 times the size of Earth, and takes almost 25 days to orbit its M-Type star. Images from the official NASA website show it to be a red and white swirled sphere created with a rocky surface and oxygen-rich atmosphere. The UV levels reaching the planet reflect similar levels to Earth, and due to the observation of LHS 1140b not being dense enough to only be rock, scientists believe the planet must contain a lot more water than Earth.
If we were able to live another planet, what do you think would happen? Jack Barbour (11) believes, “I feel like we would be backtracking ourselves if we got to LHS 1140b. It would be one step forward but then three steps back; our progress would be slow and very different from life on Earth. It would be a whole new world and political system compared to now, and this would lead to conflict in class systems.” If we lived on a new planet, would that mean we would leave Earth forever? We either would need to find a way to keep contact with Earth or move the whole population to another planet. If we kept life on Earth, would that mean only the rich could travel to the new planet and poorer classes would have to stay on Earth?
But, this is all in theory. Aimee Leong (11) said, “I think it would be possible for us to live on another planet, but it would take a great amount of resources to get us there and start a new civilization.” On the surface level, most scientific sources believe living on another planet besides Earth is impossible. Scholarly articles focusing on LHS 1140b have found it to be a possibility, but there is not enough research to guarantee anything; would we be able to live there, or even be able to get there?
