NASA’s Webb Space Telescope Reveals a Dark Airless Super-Earth That Looks Like Mercury

JWST’s MIRI, combined with Spitzer data, measured thermal emission from the rocky exoplanet LHS 3844 b.

The infrared spectrum matches a dark, airless, basalt-like surface, not an Earth-like crust.

The result offers a rare direct view of a rocky exoplanet’s surface composition and evolution.

It also helps scientists test how small planets can form without Earth-like geology or an atmosphere.