For the first time, scientists have discovered an atmosphere around a low-mass super-Earth that is just a little bit larger than our planet.

Using a 2.2-meter  European Southern Observatory telescope in Chile, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) have captured images of the super-Earth called Gj 1132b, about 39-light years away, Space reported.

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As they were measuring the star system with seven various wavelengths and used small dips in the star's brightness to determine the radius of the exoplanet passing by during its 1.6-day orbits, the scientist found something unusual.  

According to them, one of the wavelengths showed a larger dip in brightness than the others each time the exoplanet passed by. This world, for some reason, appeared larger at that wavelength than at others, suggesting that the planet had a surrounding atmosphere that this wavelength could not penetrate.

The study, which was published in The Astronomical Journal, also noted that atmosphere around the super-Earth is likely rich in water vapor or methane.

The Earth's atmosphere is mostly nitrogen while that of Venus is a thick shroud of carbon dioxide.

"While this is not the detection of life on another planet, it's an important step in the right direction: The detection of an atmosphere around the super-Earth GJ 1132b marks the first time that an atmosphere has been detected around an Earth-like planet other than Earth itself," John Southworth, the lead author of the study from Keele University in the United Kingdom.

The super-Earth has a radius about 1.4 times than Earth and 1.6 times Earth's mass. It orbits the dwarf star GJ 1132 in just 1.6 days. IFL Science said that based on what is known about the exoplanet yet, it is unlikely to be habitable as it is too close and hot for liquid water to exist.

Since the super-Earth orbits an M dwarf star, it is prone to bursts of activity and could blast away the atmospheres of nearby planets. This atmosphere, it said, appears to have endured for billions of years, suggesting that worlds around these stars are not necessarily barren.