Not as many earthlike exoplanets after all
Some hot, rocky exoplanets are the scorched cores of former gas giants. These planets are nestled close to their stars, where stellar winds may have blown ancient atmospheres away
![Blow my gas away!](/fileadmin/site_files/nyheder/102717_LG_rocky-exoplanet_main.jpg)
In a recent paper published online on arXiv and due to be published in its final version in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, a group of researchers with Vincent van Eylen as lead author, and most co-authors connected to SAC, tell the story of the "Radius Valley" amongst rocky exoplanets and with new and more precise measurements explain why we may have to lower the number of prospective earthlike rocky planets.
ScienceNews has an exellent overview of the results, and a somewhat shorter resume appears here from the University of Leiden, where Vincent now resides.