Tag: Hycean
-
Sub-Neptunes Are Drier Than Thought: Earth’s Commonality
Sub-Neptunes and the water puzzle: what scientists once believed For years, exoplanet researchers hoped that many worlds beyond our solar system could host vast oceans beneath hydrogen-rich atmospheres. In particular, sub-Neptune planets—planets larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune—were prime candidates for Hycean worlds, a term blending hydrogen with ocean. The idea was tantalizing: a…
-
Earth May Not Be Special: Sub-Neptunes Are Dryer Worlds
The Hycean dream gets reined in In April 2025, scientists drew wide attention to an exoplanet called K2-18b, a world circling a dim dwarf star about 124 light-years away. Early excitement suggested such planets might be covered in global oceans, forming Hycean worlds with hydrogen-rich atmospheres that could harbor life. A fresh analysis led by…
-
Earth May Not Be Special: Sub-Neptunes Are Drier Than Before
New evidence reshapes the water story of distant worlds A team led by ETH Zurich, with collaborators from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and the University of California, Los Angeles, has redefined what we should expect from water on planets beyond our solar system. Building on the discussion sparked by the April 2025 discovery…