Trending Now - Venus-like Worlds Outnumber Habitable Exoplanets, Study Reveals
WHO:
Space Daily - Sean Jordan, a postdoctoral fellow in exoplanet studies at ETH Zurich, co-authored by Gian Rungger, Daniel Bower, and Paolo Sossi, also at ETH Zurich.
WHAT:
Space Daily - The study suggests that as a rocky planet cools from its molten early state, the chemistry favors building a thick CO₂ atmosphere rather than an oxygen-nitrogen one with liquid oceans.
Space Daily - Sean Jordan stated that forming a CO₂-dominated atmosphere from a magma ocean phase is "quite plausible," and that such atmospheres should therefore be "quite common."
Space Daily - Jordan noted that building a model where a planet condenses oceans and avoids a runaway greenhouse effect is "considerably harder."
Space Daily - Preliminary results from a study suggest that Venus-like planets may be roughly twice as common in the galaxy as planets that form with liquid water oceans.
Phys.org - Preliminary results indicate that hellish Venus-type planets may be about twice as common as habitable planets that form with oceans.
Space Daily - The conference abstract titled “The Diversity of Venus-like Atmospheres on Exoplanets” was presented at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly.
Space Daily - No Venus-like atmosphere on an exoplanet has yet been confirmed.
WHERE:
Space Daily - The study was presented at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly in Vienna.
WHEN:
Space Daily - Jordan estimated that truly answering the question of how common exo-Venuses are will take "a couple of decades," contingent on proposed missions to Venus proceeding and future space telescope capabilities.
Space Daily - The conference abstract was submitted to the EGU General Assembly 2026.
Space Daily - NASA missions DAVINCI and VERITAS were proposed for termination in the White House’s FY 2027 budget request.
WHY:
Space Daily - Jordan described Venus as "criminally underexplored," highlighting the lack of sustained missions to study its atmosphere since the Soviet Venera program ended.
Space Daily - The research suggests that the galaxy may be better at producing hellish planets than habitable ones.
Space Daily - The study argues that forming a CO₂-dominated atmosphere from a magma ocean phase is plausible, making such atmospheres common.
HOW:
Space Daily - Geochemical models of atmospheric formation predict that Venus-like atmospheres, dominated by CO₂, are among the most common types of atmosphere that can develop on rocky exoplanets.
Space Daily - The study highlights the difficulty in confirming the atmospheric composition of exoplanets due to high-energy radiation and particle flux from host stars.
(UPDATED May 22, 2026 06:22 UTC)
A recent study suggests that as rocky planets cool from their molten beginnings, they are more likely to develop thick CO₂ atmospheres instead of oxygen-nitrogen ones with liquid oceans. Sean Jordan, who contributed to the study, emphasized that while forming a CO₂-dominated atmosphere from a magma ocean phase is quite plausible, creating a model that avoids a runaway greenhouse effect is considerably more challenging. He also pointed out that Venus remains "criminally underexplored," and he estimates that it will take a couple of decades to truly determine how common exo-Venuses are, depending on the success of proposed missions and advancements in space telescope technology.
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(UPDATED May 22, 2026 04:22 UTC)
A new study co-authored by Sean Jordan and his colleagues at ETH Zurich suggests that Venus-like planets may be about twice as common in the galaxy as those with liquid water oceans. This research was presented at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly in Vienna, where the abstract titled “The Diversity of Venus-like Atmospheres on Exoplanets” was submitted for the 2026 event. While no Venus-like atmosphere on an exoplanet has been confirmed yet, the findings indicate that geochemical models predict CO₂-dominated atmospheres are among the most prevalent types that can form on rocky exoplanets.