Astronomers Stunned By TOI 561b: A Lava Planet Defying Odds With A Persistent Atmosphere

In the vast expanse of exoplanetary research, a peculiar phenomenon has been observed on TOI 561b, a lava planet that defies expectations by retaining a substantial atmosphere. Discovered by the TESS spacecraft in 2020, this scorching world orbits its sunlike star in a remarkably short 10 hours, its mass being twice that of Earth. According to Science News, the weak gravitational pull of such planets typically makes it difficult for them to trap fast-moving gas molecules, and the intense radiation from nearby stars often blows away loose atmosphere-forming molecules into space.

Nicole Wallack, an observational astronomer at Carnegie Earth and Planets Laboratory in Washington, D. C., notes that “We’d expect that the atmosphere shouldn’t still be there,” yet the presence of an atmosphere is necessary to explain the observed characteristics of TOI 561b. The planet’s unusually low average density, about four times that of water, suggests that an atmosphere could be creating this anomaly by making the planet appear larger than expected.

By utilizing the James Webb Space Telescope, Wallack and her colleagues tested the hypothesis that this fiery planet harbors an atmosphere. The results revealed a more moderate temperature distribution on both sides of the tidally locked planet, contradicting the anticipated extremes of sc ← →