A strange planet discovered with NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has astronomers confused. Despite getting relentlessly bombarded with radiation from its red giant parent star, the world has, against all odds, hung on to its atmosphere. It is also smaller, older and hotter than scientists thought possible for such a planet.
In truth, the extrasolar planet, or "exoplanet," should be a bare husk of rock due to its proximity to the star TIC 365102760, located around 1,800 light-years away from Earth. Yet the world, nicknamed "Phoenix," has emerged from the flames of its host star with a nice and puffy atmosphere.
