Gas-depleted planet formation occurred in the four-planet system around the red dwarf LHS 1903

The radii of small exoplanets form two populations, super-Earths and sub-Neptunes, separated by a gap known as the radius valley. This could be produced by the removal of some atmospheres by stellar or internal heating, or the lack of an initial envelope. We use 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. The planets have orbital periods 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, while 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 it formed from gas-depleted material.

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Journal
Science
Published
2026-02-12
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adl2348
Primary Topic
Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
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article
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article

Gas-depleted planet formation occurred in the four-planet system around the red dwarf LHS 1903

Eric B. Ford, T. Bárczy, D. Gandolfi, D. Magrin et al.
Science
Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
article

Gas-depleted planet formation occurred in the four-planet system around the red dwarf LHS 1903

Eric B. Ford, T. Bárczy, D. Gandolfi, D. Magrin, S. Csizmadia, S. Charnoz, A. Shporer, Gyula M. Szabó, A. Tuson, M. Pinamonti, Nicolas Thomas, B. Nicholson, N. Hara, Göran Olofsson, V. Nascimbeni, Alexander J. Mustill, H. P. Osborn, S. Udry, N. Schanche, D. Queloz, D. D. Sasselov, Thomas D. Beck, G. Piotto, Sébastien Salmon, V. Adibekyan, Nicola Rando, S. Aidan Quinn, Guillem Anglada, Courtney D. Dressing, A. Vanderburg, Alan Simpson, A. Harutyunyan, M. Damasso, Robert D. Wells, Federica Rescigno, Florian Lienhard, A. Fortier, Daniel Jontof‐Hutter, van Grootel Valerie, G. Ricker, Yugo Kawai, F. Biondi, James A. G. Jackman, S. Aigrain, Victoria DiTomasso, A. Antoniadis-Karnavas, C. Broeg, Chelsea X. Huang, G. Scandariato, Eric L. N. Jensen, M. J. Hooton, Aldo F Martinez Fiorenzano, T. G. Wilson, Urs Schroffenegger, S. C. C. Barros, J. Laskar, Ryan Nelson Cloutier, Augusto C. Tomé, P. Ventura, Ben S Lakeland, Marco Pedani, A. Fukui, Andrea Bonfanti, Adrien Leleu, E. Esparza-Borges, L. Sabin, Larissa Palethorpe, James R. A. Davenport, M. N. Günther, Thierry De Roche, S Carrazco Gaxiola, Ennio Poretti, Patrícia Schwarz, Juan Cabrera, Luca Malavolta, Isabella Pagano, Christoph Lovis, Pierre Maxted, Pere Guerra, Christopher Watson, Annelies Mortier, Wolfgang Baumjohann, R. Luque, Keith Horne, F. Ratti, Felipe Mergas, Malcolm Fridlund, Arjun B Savel, Melvyn Davies, Joshua N. Winn, Maximilian Buder, R. Ottensamer, A. Lars Buchhave, László Kiss, Rae Holcomb, Carl Ziegler, Norio Narita, Alexis M S Smith, L. Affer, K. Rice, A. A. John, Xavier Bonfils, Izuru Fukuda, Sergio Hoyer, Attila E. Simon, Monika Lendl, Jo Ann Egger, Roi Alonso, Nuno C. Santos, R D Haywood, Ramotholo Sefako, Manuel Güdel, Rosario Cosentino, M B Lund, Manu Stalport, Y Hayashi, Luca Fossati, David Rapetti, Masahiro Ikoma, Manfred Steller, Kate G. Isaak, Francesco A. Pepe, Michel Mayor, Luca Borsato, Laetitia Delrez, Sérgio G. Sousa, Willy Benz, Roberto Ragazzoni, Paul Robertson, Brice-Olivier Demory, Enric Pallé, Alain Lecavelier des Etangs, Roberto Zambelli, Alexis Brandeker, Jerome de Leon, Hannu Parviainen, Karen A. Collins, David Charbonneau, Andrew Collier Cameron, Alessandro Sozzetti, Gisbert Peter, Don Pollacco, Ignasi Ribas, Roland K. Vanderspek, Michaël Gillon, Magali Deleuil, David Barrado Navascues, Olivier D. S. Demangeon, David W. Latham, Nicolas Billot, Motohide Tamura, Heike Rauer, Yann Alibert, Kevin I. Collins, Anja Bekkelien, Christoph Mordasini, Patricio E. Cubillos, Shweta Dalal, Nicholas A. Walton, Anders Erikson, Andrew W. Mayo, Holden Gill, Mathias Beck, Jon M. Jenkins, Damien Ségransan
article en

Abstract

The radii of small exoplanets form two populations, super-Earths and sub-Neptunes, separated by a gap known as the radius valley. This could be produced by the removal of some atmospheres by stellar or internal heating, or the lack of an initial envelope. We use 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. The planets have orbital periods 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, while 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 it formed from gas-depleted material.

Science
Eötvös Loránd University (HU), University of Geneva (CH), Swarthmore College (US), University of Bern (CH), University of the Pacific (US), Leiden University (NL), Queen's University Belfast (GB), Ames Research Center (US), University of Vienna (AT), Goddard Space Flight Center (US), Universities Space Research Association (US), Austrian Academy of Sciences (AT), University of Padua (IT), Institut de physique du globe de Paris (FR), University of Liège (BE), Universidad de La Laguna (ES), Stockholm University (SE), George Mason University (US), Tokyo University of the Arts (JP), University of St Andrews (GB), University of New Mexico (US), Georgia State University (US), Universidade do Porto (PT), University of Southern Queensland (AU), Lund University (SE), Princeton University (US), Stephen F. Austin State University (US), University of Washington (US), University of Miskolc (HU), University of California, Irvine (US), Université Paris Cité (FR), University of Exeter (GB), University of Cambridge (GB), Universitat de Girona (ES), University of Michigan (US), Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (CH), Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Galileo Galilei Institute for Theoretical Physics (IT), NASA Exoplanet Science Institute (US), Astronomical Observatory of Rome (IT), Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (FR), Konkoly Observatory (HU), Brera Astronomical Observatory (IT), ELTE Research Centre for Linguistics (HU), Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR) (DE), University of Warwick (GB), University of Oxford (GB), University of Chicago (US), HES-SO Genève (CH), Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences (PT), Space Research Institute (AT), Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (DE), Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (ES), Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille (FR), Space (Italy) (IT), Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino (IT), Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble (FR), Astrobiology Center (JP), South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (ZA), Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania (IT), Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (US), Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo (IT), HUN-REN Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences (HU), Centro de Astrobiología (ES), Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (ES), Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ES), AlbaNova (SE), Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers (FR), Star Center (US), Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (IT), National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (JP), Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (ES), Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (US), Leiden Observatory, European Space Research and Technology Centre (NL), Technische Universität Berlin (DE), American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (US), UK Astronomy Technology Centre (GB), Institut de Mécanique Céleste et de Calcul des Éphémérides (FR), University of Turin (IT), Arizona State University (US), Keele University (GB), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US), Chalmers University of Technology (SE), University of Maryland, College Park (US), The University of Tokyo (JP), Freie Universität Berlin (DE), University of Birmingham (GB), National Institute for Astrophysics (IT), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (MX), Université Grenoble Alpes (FR), University of California, Berkeley (US), Technical University of Denmark (DK), McMaster University (CA), University of Edinburgh (GB)
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