The lava world 55 Cancri e doesn’t have an atmosphere of vaporized rock after all, according to recent data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). A recent study suggests that 55 Cancri e — a ...

Lava planets don’t play by the rules of our solar system. These scorching-hot worlds, some no bigger than Earth, orbit so close to their stars that a full year lasts less than a day. With their ...

What can lava planets, rocky exoplanets that are tidally locked and orbit so close to their stars that the intense heat melts the surface, teach astronomers about planetary formation and evolution?

If you thought life on Earth during a pandemic was tough, imagine living on a lava planet, thrashed by violent weather, with rocks literally raining down and the wind howling at thousands of miles per ...

Astronomers may be starting to get the goods on lava planets. These fiery worlds share a similar density to Earth but orbit so close to their host stars that their scorching daytime temperatures melt ...

In Star Wars, Anakin Skywalker burned alive on the shores of a roiling lava planet called Mustafar, fueling his tumultuous transition into Darth Vader. Now, astronomers have found an atmosphere on a ...

Among the most extreme planets discovered beyond the edges of our solar system are lava planets: fiery hot worlds that circle so close to their host star that some regions are likely oceans of molten ...