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? This is what a recent study published in Nature Astronomy hopes to address as an international team of scientists investigated how the interior processes of lava planets determine their composition and evolution. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the formation and evolution of exoplanets and the implications of finding life beyond Earth.
For the study, the researchers used computer models to simulate how the ratio of solid and liquid material within lava planets plays a role in the planet’s composition and evolution. As part of the scenarios, the researchers examined the atmospheric and surface outcomes if the interior was either entirely molten lava or entirely rocky. They determined that a fully molten lava interior could result in the planet’s atmosphere being comprised of rocky material with the nightside being replenished with this material, and that a fully rocky interior could result in a shallow magma ocean on the dayside with the nightside comprised of a solid surface.
"Artistic illustration of the internal structure of a lava planet in a cold state, showing a day‑side magma ocean overlain by a mineral atmosphere. The arrows indicate the direction of heat transport within the planet’s interior and the thermal radiation emitted from its night side." (Credit: Romain Jean-Jaques (Instagram: @romainjean.jacques)
“Our simulations propose a conceptual framework for interpreting their {lava planets’] evolution and provide scenarios to probe their internal dynamics and chemical changes over time,” said Dr. Charles Boukaré, who is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at York University and lead author of the study. “These processes, though greatly amplified in lava planets, are fundamentally the same as those that shape rocky planets in our own solar system.”
What new discoveries about lava planets will researchers make in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Nature Astronomy, EurekAlert!