Hot rocky super-Earths are thought to be sufficiently irradiated by their host star to melt their surface and thus allow for long-lasting magma oceans.
Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Distinguishing Oceans Of Water From Magma On Mini-Neptune K2-18b
Mildly rradiated mini-Neptunes have densities potentially consistent with them hosting substantial liquid water oceans (`Hycean’ planets).
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
A Cool Runaway Greenhouse Without Surface Magma Ocean
Water vapour atmospheres with content equivalent to the Earth’s oceans, resulting from impacts or a high insolation, were found to yield a surface magma ocean. This was, however, a consequence […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Status Report
Interior Dynamics Of Super-Earth 55 Cancri e
The ultra-short-period super-Earth 55 Cancri e has a measured radius of 1.8 Earth radii. Previous thermal phase curve observations suggest a strong temperature contrast between the dayside and nightside of […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
The Role of Magma Oceans in Maintaining Surface Water on Rocky Planets Orbiting M-Dwarfs
Earth-like planets orbiting M-dwarf stars, M-Earths, are currently the best targets to search for signatures of life. Life as we know it requires water. The habitability of M-Earths is jeopardized […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Status Report
Solubility Of Water In Peridotite Liquids And The Prevalence Of Steam Atmospheres On Rocky Planets
Atmospheres are products of time-integrated mass exchange between the surface of a planet and its interior. On Earth and other planetary bodies, magma oceans likely marked significant atmosphere-forming events, during […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Press Release
Internal Or External Magma Oceans In The Earliest Protoplanets — Perspectives From Nitrogen And Carbon Fractionation
When the extent of protoplanetary melting approached magma ocean (MO)-like conditions, alloy melts efficiently segregated from the silicates to form metallic cores.
Posted inAnalog Studies, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Citizen Science / Open Science, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Microbiology & Virology, Press Release
Ultra-small Microbes Exhibit Extreme Survival Skills In Ethiopia's Mars-like Wonderland
The first study of ultra-small bacteria living in the extreme environment of Ethiopia’s Dallol hot springs shows that life can thrive in conditions similar to those thought to have been […]
Posted inExtremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Press Release, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Extreme Shrimp May Hold Clues to Alien Life
At one of the world’s deepest undersea hydrothermal vents, tiny shrimp are piled on top of each other, layer upon layer, crawling on rock chimneys that spew hot water.
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Commercial & Private Sector, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Microbiology & Virology, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Press Release, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return
Extremophiles: Untapped Source of Antibacterial Drugs
One of the most mysterious forms of life may turn out to be a rich and untapped source of antibacterial drugs.