Crushed space rocks hint at exoplanets’ early atmospheric makeup
Water-rich steam might envelop the far-flung planets, experiments suggest
![Kepler-186f](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/012221_lg_meteorite-exoplanet_feat.jpg?fit=1030%2C580&ssl=1)
Astronomers want to know what the atmospheres of rocky exoplanets like Kepler-186f, shown in this artist’s impression, are made of. Some scientists are burning meteorites to figure that out.
NASA Ames/SETI Institute/JPL-Caltech