Can super-Earths' interior dynamics set the table for habitability?
Can super-Earths' interior dynamics set the table for habitability? New framework for understanding super-Earths’ interiors prerequisite for assessing habitability potential Artist's impression of the super-Earth exoplanet LHS 1140b. New research led by Yingwei Fei of the Carnegie Institution for Science provides a framework for understanding the interiors of super-Earths -- rocky exoplanets between 1.5 and 2 times the size of our home planet -- a prerequisite for assessing their potential for habitability. Planets of this size are among the most abundant in exoplanetary systems. The results of the U.S. National Science Foundation-funded research are published in Nature Communications. "Although observations of an exoplanet's atmospheric composition will be the first way to search for signatures of life beyond Earth, many aspects of a planet's surface habitability are influenced by what's happening beneath the planet's surface, and that's wh...