\u201cWhile 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?\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Illustration](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/98-59-d-shown-cutaway-123776643.jpg\")
Orbiting a red star 35 light-years away, this exoplanet defies conventional categories, boasting a magma ocean and a sulfur-rich atmosphere. via REUTERS<\/p>\n
Translation: space just got a whole lot weirder.<\/p>\n
Until now, scientists tended to sort planets like this into neat boxes \u2014 either rocky worlds with thin atmospheres or water-rich planets covered in deep oceans.<\/p>\n
But L 98\u201359 d doesn\u2019t play by those rules.<\/p>\n
Instead, it appears to be a simmering, sulfur-rich sphere with a deep magma ocean stretching thousands of miles below its surface \u2014 acting like a giant chemical storage tank.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur computer models simulate various planetary processes, effectively enabling us to turn back the clock and understand how this unusual rocky exoplanet, L 98\u201359 d, evolved,\u201d said study co-author Dr. Richard Chatterjee.<\/p>\n
\u201cHydrogen sulphide gas, responsible for the smell of rotten eggs, appears to play a starring role there. Further investigation may yet show that rather pungent planets are surprisingly common.\u201d<\/p>\n
In other words: this stinky space rock might not be alone.<\/p>\n
As bizarre as it sounds, scientists say this inferno of a planet could actually offer clues about our own origins.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because rocky planets \u2014 including Earth \u2014 are believed to have started as molten worlds before cooling over billions of years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s exciting is that we can use computer models to uncover the hidden interior of a planet we will never visit,\u201d said co-author Professor Raymond Pierrehumbert.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough astronomers can only measure a planet\u2019s size, mass and atmospheric composition from afar, this research shows that it is possible to reconstruct the deep past of these alien worlds \u2013 and discover types of planets with no equivalent in our own Solar System.\u201d<\/p>\n
The discovery, published in the journal \u201cNature Astronomy,\u201d is the latest reminder that the universe is packed with planets that defy expectations \u2014 from water worlds to gas giants to, apparently, giant balls of molten stink.<\/p>\n
And if this sulfur-soaked scorcher is any indication, scientists may have only scratched the surface.<\/p>\n
Or, in this case, barely skimmed the lava.<\/p>\n
As previously reported<\/a> by The Post and in other space-related news, a new study suggests any alien civilizations out there were probably short-lived \u2014 and gone in a flash.<\/p>\n For decades, humans have scanned the stars for signs of intelligent life.<\/a> And what do we get? Crickets.<\/p>\n This cosmic ghost-town scenario, better known as the Fermi Paradox, has baffled astronomers since physicist Enrico Fermi asked the big question in 1950: \u201cWhere is everybody?\u201d<\/p>\n Now, a team at Sharif University of Technology thinks they might know why.<\/p>\n In their March 2026 paper<\/a>, \u201cConstraining the Lifespan of Intelligent Technological Civilization in the Galaxy,\u201d physicists Sohrab Rahvar and Shahin Rouhani deliver the grim news: advanced civilizations may only survive for about 5,000 years.<\/p>\n Why? The usual suspects: giant asteroids<\/a>, supervolcanoes, runaway climate change, nuclear war, pandemics \u2014 and even rogue AI.<\/a><\/p>\n In other words, the universe may be packed with planets \u2026 but civilizations? Not so much.<\/p>\n Humanity, take note: we may be playing a very short cosmic game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Talk about a hot mess. Scientists have uncovered a hellish \u201clava world\u201d where temperatures soar to a blistering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529593,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[149,6625,79,15850,780,193],"class_list":["post-529592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-lifestyle","tag-planets","tag-science","tag-scientists","tag-solar-system","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/sun-space-dark-background-elements-123842626.jpg\")
Researchers say studying this inferno could reveal how rocky planets \u2014 including Earth \u2014 evolve, while also highlighting that the galaxy may be packed with planets but likely short on long-lived civilizations. Artsiom P \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n