The TRAPPIST-1 planets have become prime targets for studying the atmospheric and geophysical properties of planets around M-dwarf stars.
Our galaxy’s most abundant type of planet could be rich in liquid water due to formative interactions between magma oceans and primitive atmospheres during their early years, according to new […]
The amount of surface water is thought to be critical for a planet’s climate stability and thus habitability.
The TRAPPIST-1 system offers one of the best opportunities to characterize temperate terrestrial planets beyond our own solar system.
TRAPPIST-1 e is one of the very few rocky exoplanets that is both amenable to atmospheric characterization and resides in the habitable zone of its star—located at a distance from […]
During the formation of rocky planets, the surface environments of growing protoplanets were dramatically different from those of present-day planets.
It is still unclear whether exoplanets in compact multiplanet systems such as TRAPPIST-1 are able to accrete large quantities of volatiles, grow to sufficient mass, and maintain robust atmospheres and […]
Astronomers are debating whether the plentiful “sub-Neptune” exoplanets — worlds a bit larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune — are predominantly rocky planets, water-rich “ocean worlds,” or gas-enshrouded mini-Neptunes.
Context. Active regions on the stellar surface can induce quasi-periodic radial velocity (RV) variations that can mimic planets and mask true planetary signals. These spurious signals can be problematic for […]
It is an open question whether small planets around M dwarfs are able to maintain atmospheres. The Hot Rocks Survey aims to address this question by observing 9 rocky exoplanets […]
