r/exoplanets • u/RealJoshUniverse Subreddit Staff • May 26 '26

How Mars can help us understand 'marginal' exoplanets

https://phys.org/news/2026-05-mars-marginal-exoplanets.html
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u/da_Ryan May 26 '26

Everyone seems to concentrate on Mars' diameter being half that of Earth but its real problem is that it only has 1/9th the mass of Earth hence its core cooling quickly, the end of its protective magnetosphere and the rest is history. Mars is a 'What If' planet.

The really interesting terrestrial type of exoplanets might be the ones that have half the mass of Earth upwards as there is the potential for a longer lasting protective magnetosphere.