In a new study, scientists have shown that sweeping molten oceans have a large influence on the observed properties of hot rocky Super-Earths, such as their size and evolutionary path.
Lava worlds, massive exoplanets home to sparkling skies and roiling volcanic seas called magma oceans, are distinctly unlike the planets in our solar system.
Even so, since these objects are notoriously under-studied, it can be a difficult task to characterize the fundamental workings of lava planets, said Kiersten Boley, lead author of the study and a graduate student in astronomy at The Ohio State University. "When planets initially form, particularly for rocky terrestrial planets, they go through a magma ocean stage as they're cooling down," said Boley."So lava worlds can give us some insight into what may have happened in the evolution of nearly any terrestrial planet."
The results suggest that the second and third forms are slightly more common than planets that are completely molten. Depending on the composition of magma oceans, some atmosphere-free exoplanets are better than others at trapping volatile elements -- compounds such as oxygen and carbon necessary to the formation of early atmospheres -- for billions of years.
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