On the list of exoplanets that could hold life, GJ 1132b wouldn’t come near making the cut. It’s a super-Earth whose upper atmosphere reaches 500 degrees Fahrenheit (260 degrees Celsius), meaning it only gets hotter as you move down. It’s barely a hair away from its star, completing a year in 1.6 Earth days.

Life is incredibly unlikely to survive there. Yet it may be one of the most important planets to come along in the search for life. So why’s that?

Well, it’s because it has an atmo