Lava-World Exoplanet Points to a New Class of Planets
TL;DR
New JWST observations and simulations identify L98-59d as a 1.6 Earth-radius exoplanet with a global magma ocean, a molten core, surface temperatures near 1900°C, and a hydrogen-sulfide atmosphere shaped by strong tidal forces; this suggests molten planets may be more common than thought and that some planets in the habitable zone might not be habitable after all.
- ‘A molten, mushy state’: scientists may have found a new type of liquid planet The Guardian
- New Type Of Planet Discovered 35 Light-Years From Earth Is A Molten World Like No Other IFLScience
- Hellish new planet identified beyond solar system Financial Times
- Volatile-rich evolution of molten super-Earth L 98-59 d Nature
- A new class of molten planet stores abundant sulfur in a perpetual magma ocean Phys.org
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