Scientists Discover Atmosphere On Ultra-Hot Super-Earth Planet Orbiting Distant Star

The vast expanse of space has yielded another secret, as scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery on a planet that orbits a star 280 light years away. This rocky world, known as TOI-561 b, is an ultra-hot super-Earth that has left researchers abuzz with excitement. According to a report on Express. co. uk, UK scientists utilizing NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have detected the strongest evidence yet for an atmosphere on this distant planet.

TOI-561 b is a scorching hot world, with daylight temperatures soaring to a sizzling 1,800C, and is surrounded by a thick blanket of gases above a global magma ocean. What sets this planet apart, however, is its anomalously low density, which has challenged prevailing wisdom that relatively small planets so close to their stars cannot sustain atmospheres.

Lead author Johanna Teske, a staff scientist at Carnegie Science Earth and Planets Laboratory, noted that TOI-561 b’s unique composition could be representative of planets that formed when the universe was relatively young. With a radius 1. 4 times that of Earth, TOI-561 b falls into a rare class of objects known as ‘ultra-short period exoplanets’.