Gas-depleted planet formation occurred in the four-planet system around the red dwarf LHS 1903
Journal article, 2026
The radii of small exoplanets form two populations, super-Earths and sub-Neptunes, separated by a gap known as the radius valley. This feature could be produced by the removal of atmospheres by stellar or internal heating or by the lack of an initial envelope. We used transit photometry and radial velocity measurements to detect and characterize four exoplanets orbiting LHS 1903, a red dwarf star in the Milky Way's thick disk. These four planets have orbital periods ranging from 2.2 to 29.3 days and span the radius valley within a single planetary system. The derived densities indicate that LHS 1903 b is rocky, whereas LHS 1903 c and LHS 1903 d have extended atmospheres. The most distant planet from the host star, LHS 1903 e, has no gaseous envelope, indicating that it formed from gas-depleted material.
Author
T.G. Wilson
University of St Andrews
Anna M. Simpson
University of Michigan
A. Collier Cameron
University of St Andrews
R. Cloutier
McMaster University
V. Adibekyan
University of Porto
A. Anna John
University of St Andrews
Y. Alibert
University of Bern
M. Stalport
University of Liège
J. A. Egger
University of Bern
A. Bonfanti
Institut fur Weltraumforschung
N. Billot
University of Geneva
P. Guterman
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
P. Maxted
Keele University
A.E. Simon
University of Bern
S.G. Sousa
University of Porto
Malcolm Fridlund
Leiden University
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
Mathias Beck
University of Geneva
A. Bekkelien
University of Geneva
S. Salmon
University of Geneva
V. Van Grootel
University of Liège
L. Fossati
Institut fur Weltraumforschung
A. J. Mustill
Lund University
H. P. Osborn
University of Bern
Tiziano Zingales
University of Padua
M.J. Hooton
University of Cambridge
Laura Affer
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
S. Aigrain
University of Oxford
R. Alonso
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
G. Anglada
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas
A. Antoniadis-Karnavas
University of Porto
T. Bárczy
Admatis
D. Barrado Navascues
Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial
S.C.C. Barros
University of Porto
W. Baumjohann
Institut fur Weltraumforschung
T. Beck
University of Bern
W. Benz
University of Bern
F. Biondi
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
X. Bonfils
Grenoble Alpes University
L. Borsato
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
A. Brandeker
Stockholm University
C. Broeg
University of Bern
L. A. Buchhave
Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
M. Buder
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
J. Cabrera
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Sebastian Carrazco Gaxiola
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
D. Charbonneau
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
S. Charnoz
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
D. R. Ciardi
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Karen A. Collins
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Kevin I. Collins
George Mason University
R. Cosentino
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Szilard Csizmadia
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
P. E. Cubillos
Institut fur Weltraumforschung
S. Dalal
University of Exeter
Mario Damasso
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
James R.A. Davenport
University of Washington
Melvyn B. Davies
Lund University
M. Deleuil
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
L. Delrez
University of Liège
O. Demangeon
University of Porto
B.O. Demory
University of Bern
Victoria DiTomasso
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
D. Dragomir
University of New Mexico
Courtney D. Dressing
University of California
X. Dumusque
University of Geneva
D. Ehrenreich
University of Geneva
Anders Erikson
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
E. Esparza-Borges
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
A. Fortier
University of Bern
Izuru Fukuda
University of Tokyo
A. Fukui
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
D. Gandolfi
University of Turin
Adriano Ghedina
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
S. Giacalone
University of California
H. Gill
University of California
Michaël Gillon
University of Liège
Yilen Gómez Maqueo Chew
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
M. Gudel
University of Vienna
P. Guerra
Albanyà Astronomical Observatory
Maximilian N. Günther
European Space Agency (ESA)
N.C. Hara
University of Geneva
Avet Harutyunyan
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Y. Hayashi
University of Tokyo
R. D. Haywood
University of Exeter
Rae Holcomb
University of California
Keith Horne
University of St Andrews
S. Hoyer
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
Chelsea X. Huang
University of Southern Queensland
Masahiro Ikoma
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
K. Isaak
European Space Agency (ESA)
James A.G. Jackman
Arizona State University
Jon M. Jenkins
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Eric L.N. Jensen
Swarthmore College
Daniel Jontof-Hutter
University of the Pacific
Yugo Kawai
University of Geneva
L. L. Kiss
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
B. S. Lakeland
University of Exeter
J. Laskar
Paris Observatory
D. W. Latham
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
A. L. des Etangs
Institut d 'Astrophysique de Paris
A. Leleu
University of Bern
M. Lendl
University of Geneva
Jerome P. De Leon
University of Tokyo
F. Lienhard
University of Cambridge
Mercedes López-Morales
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
C. Lovis
University of Geneva
M. B. Lund
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
R. Luque
University of Chicago
D. Magrin
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
L. Malavolta
University of Padua
Aldo F. Martínez Fiorenzano
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Andrew W. Mayo
University of California
Michel Mayor
University of Geneva
C. Mordasini
University of Bern
A. Mortier
University of Birmingham
F. Murgas
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
Norio Narita
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
Valerio Nascimbeni
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Belinda A. Nicholson
University of Oxford
G. Olofsson
Stockholm University
R. Ottensamer
University of Vienna
I. Pagano
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
L. Palethorpe
University of Edinburgh
Enric Palle
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
H. Parviainen
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
Marco Pedani
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Francesco Pepe
University of Geneva
G. Peter
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
M. Pinamonti
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Giampaolo P. Piotto
University of Padua
Don L. Pollacco
The University of Warwick
E. Poretti
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
D. Queloz
University of Cambridge
Samuel N. Quinn
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Roberto Ragazzoni
University of Padua
N. Rando
European Space Agency (ESA)
D. Rapetti
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
F. Ratti
European Space Agency (ESA)
H. Rauer
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
F. Rescigno
University of Exeter
I. Ribas
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas
K. Rice
University of Edinburgh
George R. Ricker
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Paul Robertson
University of California
Thierry de Roche
University of Bern
L. Sabin
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
N. C. Santos
University of Porto
Dimitar D. Sasselov
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
A. B. Savel
University of Maryland
Gaetano Scandariato
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
N. Schanche
University of Maryland
U. Schroffenegger
University of Bern
R. Schwarz
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
S. Seager
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Ramotholo Sefako
South African Astronomical Observatory
D. Segransan
University of Geneva
Avi Shporer
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
André M. Silva
University of Porto
A. M.S. Smith
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
A. Sozzetti
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Manfred B. Steller
Institut fur Weltraumforschung
G.M. Szabó
Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)
Motohide Tamura
University of Southern Queensland
Nicolas Thomas
University of Bern
A. Tuson
University of Cambridge
S. Udry
University of Geneva
A. Vanderburg
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Roland K. Vanderspek
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
J. Venturini
University of Geneva
F. Verrecchia
ASI Science Data Center (ASDC)
N. A. Walton
University of Cambridge
Christopher Watson
Queen's University Belfast
R. Wells
University of Bern
J. N. Winn
Princeton University
Roberto Zambelli
Lunae Astronomical Society
C. Ziegler
Stephen F. Austin State University
Science
00368075 (ISSN) 10959203 (eISSN)
Vol. 392 6795 eadl2348-Subject Categories (SSIF 2025)
Astronomy, Astrophysics, and Cosmology
DOI
10.1126/science.adl2348
PubMed
41678587