Science January 8, 2026

Cotton Candy Worlds Evolve into Rock Candy Worlds

Using data spanning a decade taken by telescopes around the world and in space, including NAOJ’s 188-cm telescope in Okayama, astronomers have been able to weigh a quartet of baby planets. Even though the planets are currently large and puffy, like cotton candy, as they mature they will evolve into smaller, denser rocky worlds like Earth or small gaseous ‘sub-Neptune’ worlds.