Strongest evidence yet for an atmosphere on a rocky planet outside our solar system - a thick blanket of gases above an ocean of magma.
Strongest evidence yet for an atmosphere on a rocky planet outside our solar system - a thick blanket of gases above an ocean of magma.
Researchers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have detected the strongest evidence yet for an atmosphere on a rocky planet outside our solar system.
Observations of the ultra-hot super-Earth TOI-561 b suggest the exoplanet is surrounded by a thick blanket of gases above a global magma ocean.
Publishing their findings in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, researchers say that the results help to explain the planet’s unusually low density and challenge the prevailing wisdom that relatively small planets so close to their stars cannot sustain atmospheres.
Read More: University of Birmingham
Image: Super-Earth Exoplanet TOI-561 b - image by NASA/STScI
