Mini-Neptune TOI Animation

In this artistic animation, the mini-Neptune TOI is shown transforming into a super-Earth. The planet is about 2.8 times the size of Earth and has a puffy atmosphere, made up of mostly hydrogen and helium. Observations with the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii revealed that helium is escaping from the planet. Scientists say that the planet could lose the vast majority of its atmosphere after several hundred million years, leaving behind a type of large rocky planet called a super-Earth. Credit: Adam Makarenko (Keck Observatory)