A team of astronomers has found a nearby exoplanet similar to Earth that might have an atmosphere. In recent decades, astronomers have detected thousands of exoplanets (planets around stars other than our sun) in the hope of finding some that may be habitable for lives like those on Earth. However, only a very few of the exoplanets detected so far are Earth-like, and it is difficult to study their atmospheres. This newly discovered planet may be different. The discovery was reported in a paper published recently in the journal Science. The planet, referred to as Gliese 486b, is a super-Earth exoplanet, meaning it is more massive than Earth but not as massive as Uranus and Neptune. Its host star, Gliese 486, is a dwarf star 26.3 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Virgo. Gliese 486 is much smaller and cooler than our sun. The scientists found that the planet …