Phys iconPhysSep 24, 2026

Coolest lava world yet with signs of an atmosphere offers clues to early Earth

In the search for extraterrestrial life, it makes sense to first look for rocky planets with an atmosphere, like Earth. Of the more than 6,300 exoplanets cataloged thus far, the vast majority are not rocky, and only a handful of the rocky worlds appear to have an atmosphere.

Coolest lava world yet with signs of an atmosphere offers clues to early Earth

Share this story

Send the public story page.

Useful takeaways from this story.

In the search for extraterrestrial life, it makes sense to first look for rocky planets with an atmosphere, like Earth.

Of the more than 6,300 exoplanets cataloged thus far, the vast majority are not rocky, and only a handful of the rocky worlds appear to have an atmosphere.

Without an atmosphere, a planet can't have surface water.

Building the complete brief

The page is ready to read now. The fuller skim-friendly version will appear here automatically.

The useful part

In the search for extraterrestrial life, it makes sense to first look for rocky planets with an atmosphere, like Earth. Of the more than 6,300 exoplanets cataloged thus far, the vast majority are not rocky, and only a handful of the rocky worlds appear to have an atmosphere. Without an atmosphere, a planet can't have surface water.

Details worth keeping

Without an atmosphere, a planet can't have surface water.

Keep reading in the app

Open the app view to save this story, compare related coverage, and continue from the same source.

Open in app