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Oxford Study Identifies New Class of Molten Exoplanet
L 98-59 d’s global magma ocean stores large sulphur amounts, maintaining a hydrogen-rich atmosphere over billions of years, revealing a new exoplanet class, Oxford researchers say.
- On Monday, the University of Oxford-led team will publish in Nature Astronomy that L 98-59 d is a molten, sulphur-rich exoplanet with hydrogen sulphide in its atmosphere.
- Following 2024 James Webb Space Telescope and ground-based spectra, researchers observed low density and sulphur-bearing gases around L 98-59 d and used simulations to model its five-billion-year evolution.
- Their models show that the mantle of L 98-59 d contains a global magma ocean thousands of kilometres deep that stores sulphur, while ultraviolet light from the red dwarf L 98-59 drives atmospheric sulphur-bearing gas chemistry.
- The team intend to apply their simulations to JWST, Ariel, and PLATO data, suggesting L 98-59 d may define a new class of sulphur-rich planets.
- Using magma-ocean physics, the team proposes that models applied to upcoming JWST, Ariel, and PLATO data could map planetary diversity and habitability, informing our understanding of rocky planet formation.
18 Articles
18 Articles
Molten alien planet with sulfur-choked atmosphere displays unique hellscape
Astronomers have spotted a planet orbiting a star in our neighbourhood of the Milky Way galaxy that presents a unique hellscape - covered with a perpetual ocean of magma and enveloped by a noxious and fiercely hot sulfur-rich atmosphere.
Astronomers identify planet fundamentally different to anything seen before
Scientists have identified what is believed to be an entirely new type of planet made completely of molten lava. The planet, designated L98-59d, is found approximately 35 light-years from Earth and measures roughly 1.6 times our planet's diameter, circling a compact red dwarf star.Researchers had previously speculated that this distant planet might contain vast quantities of liquid water.However, fresh analysis published in Nature Astronomy poin…
Unveiling L 98-59 d: The Molten Planet Next Door | Science-Environment
Unveiling L 98-59 d: The Molten Planet Next Door Astronomers have identified a planet orbiting a nearby star in the Milky Way, featuring a perpetual magma ocean and a sulfur-rich, searingly hot atmosphere. Named L 98-59 d, this exoplanet is over 60% larger than Earth but less dense, and it orbits a faint red dwarf 34 light-years away in the constellation Volans.Harrison Nicholls, leading the research at the University of Cambridge's Institute of…
Volatile-rich evolution of molten super-Earth L 98-59 d - Nature Astronomy
Small, low-density exoplanets are sculpted by strong stellar irradiation, but their primordial compositions and subsequent evolution are still unknown. Two often-considered scenarios hold that they formed with rocky interiors and H2–He atmospheres (‘gas dwarfs’) or alternatively with bulk compositions dominated by H2O phases (‘water worlds’). Here we constrain the possible range of evolutionary histories linking the birth conditions of low-densi…
Scientists reveal a new class of molten planet
A study led by the University of Oxford has identified a new type of planet beyond our Solar System – one that stores large amounts of sulphur deep within a permanent ocean of magma. The findings have been published today (16 March) in Nature Astronomy.
A new class of molten planet stores abundant sulfur in a perpetual magma ocean
A study led by the University of Oxford has identified a new type of planet beyond our solar system—one that stores large amounts of sulfur deep within a permanent ocean of magma. The findings have been published in Nature Astronomy.
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