Hellish Sulfur World Is Off the Charts
Astronomers found a planet that smells like rotten eggs, sits on top of a magma ocean, and has been doing this for five billion years. It's called L 98-59 d, it's about one and a half times the size of Earth, and it has broken the planetary classification system.
Every exoplanet discovered so far fits somewhere on a chart: rocky worlds, gas giants, ocean worlds. L 98-59 d doesn't fit anywhere on the chart. Its sulfur-soaked atmosphere shouldn't have lasted this long. Its surface is molten. Its density is wrong for everything it should be. Scientists have essentially had to open a new drawer.
The leading theory is that it formed from a disk of unusually volatile material around its star, and that there may be many more planets like it waiting to be found.
For now, L 98-59 d is the only one of its kind. A category of one, reeking of sulfur, 35 light-years away.
Read the full story at Scientific American, May 11, 2026
Hot Take: L 98-59 d is basically Mordor with an atmosphere. Tolkien was just early.
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