‘A molten, mushy state’: scientists may have found a new type of liquid planet | Latest observations of L98-59d, about 35 light years from Earth, suggest it could be different to anything seen before
‘A molten, mushy state’: scientists may have found a new type of liquid planet | Latest observations of L98-59d, about 35 light years from Earth, suggest it could be different to anything seen before
>Astronomers have identified a planet composed of molten lava, suggesting the existence of an entirely new category of liquid planet.
>The distant world, known as L98-59d, is about 1.6 times the size of Earth and orbits a small red star 35 light years away. Astronomers initially thought the planet might harbour a deep ocean of liquid water, but the latest analysis suggests that it could be fundamentally different to anything seen before.
>“The whole thing really is in a mushy, molten state,” said Dr Harrison Nicholls, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford. “It’s like molasses. It’s likely that this planet’s core would also be molten.”
>Surface temperatures would reach a blazing 1,900C (3,500F), large waves are likely to roll over the magma ocean caused by the tidal forces of neighbouring planets, and there would be a pervasive stench of rotten egg thanks to an atmosphere rich in hydrogen sulphide. The overall conditions are not viewed as favourable for hosting life.
>“If there are aliens out there that could live in lava that would be amazing, but I don’t think it’s likely that it’s habitable,” said Nicholls. “It’s nice to revel in the alienness of the planet itself.”
sarahmagoo on
New Hell planet just dropped
DeltaCharlie1118 on
Im gonna make a bit of educated guess and say that, odds are, the planet collided with another object in its not to distant past
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>Astronomers have identified a planet composed of molten lava, suggesting the existence of an entirely new category of liquid planet.
>The distant world, known as L98-59d, is about 1.6 times the size of Earth and orbits a small red star 35 light years away. Astronomers initially thought the planet might harbour a deep ocean of liquid water, but the latest analysis suggests that it could be fundamentally different to anything seen before.
>“The whole thing really is in a mushy, molten state,” said Dr Harrison Nicholls, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford. “It’s like molasses. It’s likely that this planet’s core would also be molten.”
>Surface temperatures would reach a blazing 1,900C (3,500F), large waves are likely to roll over the magma ocean caused by the tidal forces of neighbouring planets, and there would be a pervasive stench of rotten egg thanks to an atmosphere rich in hydrogen sulphide. The overall conditions are not viewed as favourable for hosting life.
>“If there are aliens out there that could live in lava that would be amazing, but I don’t think it’s likely that it’s habitable,” said Nicholls. “It’s nice to revel in the alienness of the planet itself.”
New Hell planet just dropped
Im gonna make a bit of educated guess and say that, odds are, the planet collided with another object in its not to distant past