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    Puffy Planets Lose Atmospheres, become Super-Earths

    February 8, 2022, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    ILLUSTRATION OF THE MINI-NEPTUNE TOI 560.01, LOCATED 103 LIGHT-YEARS AWAY IN THE HYDRA CONSTELLATION. THE PLANET, WHICH ORBITS ITS STAR AT DISTANCE OF 0.06 AU, IS LOSING ITS PUFFY ATMOSPHERE AND MAY ULTIMATELY TRANSFORM INTO A SUPER-EARTH.
    Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory/Adam Makarenko

    Finding Represents First Detections of Atmospheric Loss in “Mini-Neptunes.

    Astronomers have identified two different cases of “mini-Neptune” planets that are losing their puffy atmospheres and likely transforming into super-Earths. Radiation from the planets’ stars is stripping away their atmospheres, driving hot gas to escape like steam from a pot of boiling water.

    “Most astronomers suspected that young, small mini-Neptunes must have evaporating atmospheres,” says Michael Zhang, lead author of bot...

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