Space & Astronomy

Astronomers discover completely new category of extrasolar planet

By T.K. Randall
March 16, 2026 ·  15 comments

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) At approximately 1.6 times the size of the Earth and situated around 35 light-years away, L98-59d could very well become the new definition of a "hellish" extrasolar world.

Some planets are gaseous and have no discernible surface at all, some are rocky terrestrial worlds and a few may even be completely covered in an ocean of liquid water.

This planet, however, appears to be almost entirely comprised of molten lava, thousands of kilometers deep.

Due to tidal forces exerted by other planets in the same solar system, the lava on its surface may act a bit like an ocean, with huge waves of magma rolling across its molten surface.It's almost impossible to imagine a more inhospitable place for extraterrestrial life.

According to the research, such worlds may actually be quite common throughout the cosmos.

"Some planets in the so-called habitable zone might not be very habitable at all, they might be these molten planets," University of Oxford astrophysicist Dr Harrison Nicholls told The Guardian.

"While this molten planet is unlikely to support life, it reflects the wide diversity of the worlds which exist beyond the solar system."

"We may then ask, what other types of planet are waiting to be uncovered?"

Source: The Guardian | Comments (15)

Tags: Planet, Extrasolar