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

Science 2026 Open access

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Authors: T. G. Wilson, Anna M. Simpson, Andrew Collier Cameron, Ryan Nelson Cloutier, V. Adibekyan, A. A. John, Yann Alibert, Manu Stalport, Jo Ann Egger, A. Bonfanti, Nicolas Billot, P. Guterman
+88 more Pierre Maxted, Attila E. Simon, Sérgio G. Sousa, Malcolm C. Fridlund, Mathias Beck, Anja Bekkelien, Sébastien Salmon, V. Van Grootel, Luca Fossati, Alexander James Mustill, Hugh P. Osborn, T. Zingales, M. J. Hooton, L. Affer, S. Aigrain, Roi Alonso, Guillem Anglada, A. Antoniadis-Karnavas, T. Bárczy, David Barrado Navascues, S. C. C. Barros, Wolfgang Baumjohann, Thomas D. Beck, Willy Benz, F. Biondi, Xavier Bonfils, Luca Borsato, Alexis Brandeker, Christopher H. Broeg, Lars A. Buchhave, Maximilian Buder, Juan Cabrera, S Carrazco Gaxiola, David Charbonneau, S. Charnoz, David R. Ciardi, Karen A. Collins, Kevin I. Collins, Rosario Cosentino, S. Csizmadia, Patricio E. Cubillos, Shweta Dalal, M. Damasso, James R. A. Davenport, Melvyn Davies, Magali Deleuil, Laetitia Delrez, Olivier D. S. Demangeon, Brice-Olivier Demory, Victoria DiTomasso, Diana Dragomir, Courtney D. Dressing, X. Dumusque, David Ehrenreich, Anders Erikson, E. Esparza-Borges, A. Fortier, Izuru Fukuda, Akihiko Fukui, D. Gandolfi, Adriano Ghedina, Steven Giacalone, Holden Gill, Michaël Gillon, Y. Gómez Maqueo Chew, Manuel Güdel, Pere Guerra, M. N. Günther, N. Hara, A. Harutyunyan, Y Hayashi, R D Haywood, Rae J. Holcomb, K. Horne, Sergio Hoyer, Chelsea X. Huang, Masahiro Ikoma, Kate G. Isaak, James A. G. Jackman, Jon M. Jenkins, Eric L. N. Jensen, Daniel Jontof‐Hutter, Yugo Kawai, L. L. Kiss, Ben S Lakeland, J. Laskar, David W. Latham, Alain Lecavelier des Etangs
DOI: 10.1126/science.adl2348
Cited by: 1
References: 199

Abstract

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.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Stellar planetary and galactic studies Astronomy and Astrophysical Research Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies

Publication details

Journal / source
Science
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Volume
392
Issue
6795
Pages
eadl2348–eadl2348
Publication date
12 February 2026
Language
EN