super Earth Archives

Sketch of the protoplanetary disc structure. In the inner region of the disc, where the gas is sufficiently hot (𝑇c > 𝑇crit), the gas is ionized and well-coupled to the magnetic field, allowing the MRI to operate effectively. At larger radii, where the temperature is lower, the MRI is suppressed due to insufficient ionization, leading to the formation of a layered disc structure. MRI turbulence occurs in the thin surface layers ionized by cosmic rays or X-rays (with Σ = Σcrit), while the cold mid-plane forms a “dead zone” where the MRI is inactive. In the outer parts of the disc, where the surface density is low enough (Σ < Σcrit) for cosmic rays to penetrate to the mid-plane, the disc becomes fully MRI-active again. The outer parts of the dead zone may be heated by self-gravity if sufficient material builds up. The shaded regions in the figure indicate two possible icy zones within the disc: (1) an outer icy region far from the star and (2) an inner icy region located within the dead zone, closer to the star. -- astro-ph.EP

Formation Of Super-Earths Around Low-mass Stars: Evolution Of An Icy Dead Zone

by Keith CowingOctober 21, 2025

Exoplanet observations show that close-in super-Earths are more common around M-dwarfs than around solar mass stars.

Phase folded transits of TOI-2345 b (purple) and TOI-2345 c (green) with the best-fit model from the joint fit in juliet in the top panel. The bottom panel shows the residuals. Left: TESS data. Right: CHEOPS data. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

An Ultra-Short Period Super-Earth and Sub-Neptune Spanning the Radius Valley Orbiting the Kinematic Thick Disk Star TOI-2345

by Keith CowingOctober 16, 2025October 16, 2025

A crucial chemical link between stars and their orbiting exoplanets is thought to exist. If universal, this connection could affect the formation and evolution of all planets. Therefore, this potential […]

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Press Release

Exoplanets Are Not Water Worlds

by Keith CowingSeptember 19, 2025

An exoplanet orbiting a dwarf star 124 light-years from Earth made headlines around the world in April 2025. Researchers at the University of Cambridge reported that planet K2-18b could be […]

We present the discovery by the TESS mission of one transiting Neptune-sized planet, TOI-6223 b and two transiting super-Earths, TOI-1743 b and TOI-5799 b. We validate these planets using a statistical validation method, multi-color light curves and other ancillary observations. astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

TOI-1743 b, TOI-5799 b, TOI-5799 c and TOI-6223 b: TESS Discovery And Validation Of Four Super-Earth To Neptune-sized Planets Around M dwarfs

by Keith CowingSeptember 19, 2025September 19, 2025

We combined TESS and ground-based photometric data to constrain the physical properties of the planets. TOI-6223-b is slightly larger than Neptune (Rp=5.12+0.24−0.25 R⊕) orbiting an early M dwarf in 3.86 […]

Position of TOI-270 b relative to the cosmic shoreline.

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Possible Evidence For The Presence Of Volatiles On The Warm Super-Earth TOI-270 b

by Keith CowingSeptember 18, 2025September 18, 2025

The search for atmospheres on rocky exoplanets is a crucial step in understanding the processes driving atmosphere formation, retention, and loss.

Stability analysis of the TOI-1203 system in the orbital period-eccentricity domain: planet b (top left), c (top right), d (bottom left), and e (bottom right). For fixed initial conditions, the phase space of the system is explored by varying the orbital period Pi and eccentricity ei of each planet independently. For each initial condition, the system is integrated over 40 kyr, and a stability criterion is derived with the frequency analysis of the mean longitude. The chaotic diffusion is measured by the variation in the frequencies and the color scale corresponds to the decimal logarithm of the stability index D. The red zone corresponds to highly unstable orbits, while the dark blue region can be assumed to be stable on a billion-year timescale. The current positions of the planets are marked with circles in each plot, and error bars represent the observational uncertainties (Tables B.2 and B.3). The white dashed vertical lines correspond to the main MMRs in the system. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

A Four-planet System Orbiting The Old Thick Disk Star TOI-1203

by Keith CowingSeptember 17, 2025September 17, 2025

TOI-1203 is a bright (V=8.6) G3 V star known to host a transiting warm sub-Neptune on a 25.5 d orbit.

Growth tracks of a single planet injected at r = 3 AU and t = 104 yr. In the irradiated case (left), this results in the formation of a super-Earth at the inner disc edge for all stellar masses and disc sizes. In the viscous heating case (right), the protoplanet grows into a giant planet for high stellar masses as well as for solar-mass stars with sufficiently large discs. -- astro-ph.EP

Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report, Stellar Cartography

How Stellar Mass And Disc Size Shape The Formation And Migration Of Super-Earths

by Keith CowingSeptember 2, 2025September 2, 2025

The occurrence rate of close-in super-Earths is higher around M-dwarfs compared to stars of higher masses.

Keck NIRC2-LGS images of the two events. North is up and East is to the left. The green and red boxes indicate the target and comparison stars, respectively. Insets show zoomed-in views of each star, including the original image and the residuals following PSF subtraction, which are shown on the identical flux scale to facilitate comparison. The gray dotted circles in the residual images show the predicted lens-source separation. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

KMT-2018-BLG-0029Lb and OGLE-2019-BLG-0960Lb: Mass Measurements for Two Super-Earth Microlensing Planets

by Keith CowingAugust 29, 2025August 29, 2025

KMT-2018-BLG-0029Lb and OGLE-2019-BLG-0960Lb were the lowest mass-ratio microlensing planets at the time of discovery. For both events, microlensing parallax measurements from the Spitzer Space Telescope implied lens systems that were […]

Snapshot of the triple transit of planet b, c, and d as seen by K2 at the end of 2016. This artistic representation has been created with the software tango (https://github.com/oscaribv/tango).

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Stellar Cartography

Discovery Of A Multi-planetary System Orbiting The Aged Sun-like Star HD 224018

by Keith CowingAugust 23, 2025August 23, 2025

In 2016, Kepler/K2 detected a system of two sub-Neptunes transiting the star HD 224018, one of them showing a mono-transit event.

Maximum predicted emission frequency and radio flux density for known exoplanets (triangle symbols; data from [8]). The uncertainties on the predictions are estimated to one order of magnitude for the flux density and a factor of 2-3 for the emission frequency12. The sensitivities for the ground-based (UTR-2, LOFAR, NenuFAR, SKA-Low, VLA, GMRT) and space-based (FARSIDE, LCRT, FARVIEW ) radio telescopes are labeled (for 10 min of integration time and a bandwidth of 24 MHz). The FARVIEW and LCRT sensitivity curves are taken from [19] and [2], respectively. The LuSEE-Night sensitivity curve is averaged over the entire two-year mission and includes post-processing using a LombScargle periodogram (see text for details). The possible detection of τ Boo b from LOFAR23 is shown as a red star. This figure is adapted from [9]. -- astro-ph.IM

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Magnetic Fields, Electromagnetism, bioelectricity,, Status Report

Studying Exoplanets In The Radio From The Moon

by Keith CowingAugust 14, 2025August 14, 2025

Exoplanets with and without a magnetic field are predicted to form, behave, and evolve very differently.

super Earth

Formation Of Super-Earths Around Low-mass Stars: Evolution Of An Icy Dead Zone

An Ultra-Short Period Super-Earth and Sub-Neptune Spanning the Radius Valley Orbiting the Kinematic Thick Disk Star TOI-2345

Exoplanets Are Not Water Worlds

TOI-1743 b, TOI-5799 b, TOI-5799 c and TOI-6223 b: TESS Discovery And Validation Of Four Super-Earth To Neptune-sized Planets Around M dwarfs

Possible Evidence For The Presence Of Volatiles On The Warm Super-Earth TOI-270 b

A Four-planet System Orbiting The Old Thick Disk Star TOI-1203

How Stellar Mass And Disc Size Shape The Formation And Migration Of Super-Earths

KMT-2018-BLG-0029Lb and OGLE-2019-BLG-0960Lb: Mass Measurements for Two Super-Earth Microlensing Planets

Discovery Of A Multi-planetary System Orbiting The Aged Sun-like Star HD 224018

Studying Exoplanets In The Radio From The Moon

NASA Spaceline Current Awareness List #1,215 4 September 2026 (Space Life Science Research Results)

The Metallicity Of Giant Exoplanets Around Low-mass Stars And How Ariel Can Help

Two Extremely Irradiated Volatile-rich Sub-Neptunes With Companions In The TOI-426 And TOI-1839 Systems: Insights Into Arrival And Survival Near The Lower Edge Of The Neptunian Desert

Mapping the WISPIT2 Planet-Hosting Cavity at Sub-Hill-Radius scales

Contrasting C/O Ratios in Uranus and Neptune From Disequilibrium Chemistry: A Clue To Distinct Evolutionary Pathways?