From Atmospheres to Surfaces: JWST’s New Exoplanet Breakthrough

Using infrared observations from the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have inferred the surface composition of LHS 3844 b.The planet appears to be a hot, airless super-Earth with a dark, basaltic surface and no signs of Earth-like tectonics, likely covered in radiation-processed dust.

The result marks a shift from studying exoplanet atmospheres to directly probing their geology.

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