lava world Archives

Cooling and solidification of Nominal Earth and Venus cases

Coupled AtmospHere Interior modeL Intercomparison (CHILI). I. Evolutionary Modelling — Primordial Magma Oceans of Earth and Venus

by Keith CowingJuly 2, 2026July 2, 2026

[astro-ph.EP] Earth and Venus represent two evolutionary outcomes arising from initially molten ‘magma ocean’ periods, followed by lifetimes of chemical and geophysical divergence. Their physics is common to all rocky […]

Schematic diagram of the domain (not to scale). The red line represents the outer boundary of the core; the blue line is the outer boundary of the BMO. (a) 𝑥–𝑧 (meridional) plane. The 𝑧 axis is Earth’s rotation axis and normal to the orbital plane. (b) 𝑥–𝑦 (orbital and equatorial) plane. The blue BMO ellipse always has its long axis aligned with the Moon, but the long axis of the red CMB ellipse can have a non-zero phase lag 𝛥𝜙 relative to the Moon. Throughout the main text, we assume that the solid mantle is static, in which case the BMO outer boundary is undeformed; we consider its deformation in appendix D. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Moon, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

Resonant Lunar Tides Of Earth’s Core And Basal Magma Ocean

by Keith CowingJune 16, 2026June 16, 2026

Earth’s magnetic field is generated by fluid motion in the liquid-metal core and has been active for billions of year.

Schematics of the MELTYQ coupled magma-atmosphere retrieval. The model is valid for sub-Neptune hosting a thick H2-rich atmosphere with enough surface temperature to melt rocks. The model splits the planet in three regions: a rocky core, a deep atmosphere, and an upper atmosphere. The chemistry is coupled allowing to retrieve the composition of the rocky magma via it’s influence on the observable atmosphere. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Status Report

Coupling Magma-ocean And Atmospheres In Spectral Retrievals Of Sub-Neptunes

by Keith CowingMay 14, 2026May 14, 2026

Recent high-precision atmospheric observations with JWST is enabling detailed characterization of sub-Neptune atmospheres and motivating efforts to understand and constrain their interiors.

Interior pressure profiles as a function of depth for rocky bodies with varying surface gravities.

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Mars, Status Report, TRAPPIST-1, Venus

Modeling Volcanic Plume Heights Across Exoplanet Atmospheres: Insights from TRAPPIST-1

by Keith CowingMay 8, 2026May 8, 2026

Explosive volcanic eruptions play a fundamental role in the evolution and observability of rocky exoplanets, serving as a key mechanism for injecting volatiles into planetary atmospheres and potentially modifying their […]

Schematic of ground-based transit photometry observations of TOI–1752 system. The orbital phase coverage of TOI–1752.01 is shown in the top panel (nights of Mar 04, 2020, Apr 26, 2021, Apr 27, 2021, Jun 19, 2021, Sep 08, 2020, and Apr 21, 2024) and that of TOI–1752.02 in the bottom panel (nights of Feb 26, 2025, Jun 04, 2024, Mar 30, 2025, and Jul 06, 2025). The instrument/telescope used for the observation and the in-transit coverage percentage are shown in grey. The inclination 𝑖 is taken into account. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Press Release

A Gem System With A Lava World And A Habitable Zone Sub-Neptune Orbiting TOI-1752

by Keith CowingApril 21, 2026April 21, 2026

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has delivered a large number of transiting planet candidates around nearby stars by identifying periodic decreases in stellar brightness. A top-down view of the […]

Best-fit white light (5.06–10.55 µm) curves of HD 3167 b’s secondary eclipse from our SPARTA (blue), Eureka! (red), and exoTEDRF (green) reductions. (Top) Binned raw white light fluxes. The best-fit full SPARTA model (with integration-level x decorrelation), Eureka, and exoTEDRF models are shown alongside the quadratic ramp component shown as dashed lines. (Middle) Binned fluxes after dividing by the best-fit systematics model for each reduction. Retrieved eclipse depths and uncertainties are shown on the right. (Bottom) Binned residuals of the best-fit full models. For all plots, Eureka!/exoTEDRF data are offset by 0.001/0.002 days for visual clarity. -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Status Report

An Atmosphere On The Ultra-Short Period Super-Earth HD 3167 b

by Keith CowingApril 17, 2026April 17, 2026

‘Lava worlds’-Earth-sized planets hot enough (Teq >~ 1100 K) to melt their dayside silicate surfaces-have emerged as promising candidates for atmospheric detection and characterization. Thermal emission observations show an apparent […]

Snapshots of mantle temperature and melt fraction (top row) and basalt fraction (bottom row) at 6.5 Gyr for each interior model of K2-141 b. All models show a shallow magma ocean on the dayside (left hemisphere) and a solid nightside (right hemisphere). Models without plastic yielding (MixCC, MBasal, MixIntr), exhibit upwellings at the substellar and antistellar points, with downwellings forming at the day-night terminators. MPlastic, which includes plastic yielding (lithospheric weakening), displays a more asymmetric pattern, with downwellings forming on the nightside and upwellings rising preferentially on the dayside. Videos for these model runs are available online and on Zenodo (Meier 2025). -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Status Report

Mantle Convection And Nightside Volcanism On Lava World K2-141 b

by Keith CowingMarch 8, 2026March 8, 2026

Ultra-short period lava worlds offer a unique window into the coupled evolution of planetary interior and atmospheres under extreme irradiation.

Eigenfunctions describing tidal lava flows on a hemispherical dayside magma ocean. The nightside is masked in brown. Left half shows the scalar potential functions ϕr, computed by taking the real part of Eq. (8a) and plotted for n = 0, ..., 4 and m = 0, ..., n. Right half shows the stream functions ψr computed by taking the real part of Eq. (8b) and plotted for n = 1, ..., 4 and m = 1, ..., n. Bright and dark colors correspond to negative and positive values of the eigenfunctions, respectively. Left streamlines follow the tidal irrotational flow ∇ϕr, and right streamlines the tidal non-divergent flow ∇ψr × rˆ. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Status Report

Magma Ocean Waves And Thermal Variability On Lava Worlds

by Keith CowingJanuary 25, 2026January 25, 2026

Lava worlds are rocky planets with dayside skins made molten by stellar irradiation. Tidal heating on these shortest-period planets is more than skin deep.

JAXA Venus orbiter Akatsuki IR2 infrared camera image at the 2.26 μm “atmospheric window” allows surface heat shine through allowing suface features to emerge. © JAXA/I5AS/DARTS/Damia Boulc

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Status Report, Venus

Vertically Resolved Minimal-set k-distribution For Thermal Infrared Absorption In The Venus Atmosphere

by Keith CowingJanuary 4, 2026January 3, 2026

The FKDM k-distribution technique is applied to parameterize absorption of thermal radiation in the lower and middle atmosphere of Venus, targeting modeling scenarios where the cost of full radiative transfer […]

Evolution of nominal-composition cases across the full range of fO2 and tidal power densities simulated (see Section 2.3). Panel A (left): stages in planet’s lifetime after model initialization. Dotted lines trace cumulative tidal heat dissipation; marker size increases with total dissipated energy. Solid lines indicate tidally-supported GRE states; black vertical bars (||) mark tVMR. Crosses (×) denote solidification, defined at ϕ < 0.005. Panel B (right): volume mixing ratios of volatiles at tVMR -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Impact events, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Moon, Status Report

Onset Of Habitable Conditions On The Hadean Earth Set By Feedback Between Tides And Greenhouse Forcing

by Keith CowingNovember 4, 2025November 4, 2025

In the aftermath of the Moon-forming giant impact, the Hadean Earth’s mantle and surface crystallized from a global magma ocean blanketed by a dense volatile-rich atmosphere.

lava world

Coupled AtmospHere Interior modeL Intercomparison (CHILI). I. Evolutionary Modelling — Primordial Magma Oceans of Earth and Venus

Resonant Lunar Tides Of Earth’s Core And Basal Magma Ocean

Coupling Magma-ocean And Atmospheres In Spectral Retrievals Of Sub-Neptunes

Modeling Volcanic Plume Heights Across Exoplanet Atmospheres: Insights from TRAPPIST-1

A Gem System With A Lava World And A Habitable Zone Sub-Neptune Orbiting TOI-1752

An Atmosphere On The Ultra-Short Period Super-Earth HD 3167 b

Mantle Convection And Nightside Volcanism On Lava World K2-141 b

Magma Ocean Waves And Thermal Variability On Lava Worlds

Vertically Resolved Minimal-set k-distribution For Thermal Infrared Absorption In The Venus Atmosphere

Onset Of Habitable Conditions On The Hadean Earth Set By Feedback Between Tides And Greenhouse Forcing

Alta-X Drone Tests Future Astrobiology / Astrogeology Droid Technology

Landforms In Ares Vallis Carved Out By Ancient Water Flow

Evolution of Stellar Activity and Habitable Zone (EATEN): III. X-ray Activity of Dwarfs in Open Clusters and Field Stars

Radial Velocity Detection Of The TRAPPIST-1 Planetary System With SPIRou And NIRPS

Structure Of An RNA polymerase Ribozyme Replication Complex