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Exoplanets

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planet classObservedModel
Lava world
A rocky planet so close to its star that its dayside rock is molten, often a magma ocean under a thin atmosphere of vaporised rock. Dozens are known, most on orbits shorter than a day.
planet classObservedModel
Mini-Neptune
A planet between about 1.7 and 4 times Earth's radius with a rocky or icy core wrapped in a thin envelope of hydrogen and helium. The most common kind of planet Kepler found, and one the Solar System lacks.
physics conceptObservedModel
Planet occurrence
How common planets are, measured by counting the planets that surveys detect and correcting for the many they cannot. Most stars have at least one.
physics conceptObservedModel
Radius valley
A shortage of planets between about 1.5 and 2 Earth radii that splits small close-in planets into rocky super-Earths and gas-wrapped sub-Neptunes.
planet classObservedModel
Super-Earth
A planet more massive than Earth but lighter than Neptune, usually rocky, with no counterpart in the Solar System. Super-Earths are among the most common planets found around other stars.