TOI-1452 b could be one of the closest things we’ve found to a true ocean world.
Located about 100 light-years away in the constellation Draco, this confirmed super-Earth is roughly 1.67 times Earth’s radius and about 4.8 times its mass.
What makes it extraordinary is its density. Models suggest that water could account for roughly 20–30% of the planet’s entire mass. For comparison, despite oceans covering about 70% of Earth’s surface, water represents less than 1% of Earth’s mass.
If the ocean-world interpretation is correct, there might be no continents at all, just an enormous global ocean potentially far deeper than anything on Earth. The planet completes an entire orbit around its small red-dwarf star every 11.1 days, yet because the star is much cooler than our Sun, temperatures could still potentially allow liquid water.
Astronomers haven’t yet confirmed that the planet is actually covered by an ocean. NASA notes that its composition could have other explanations, so further atmospheric observations are needed. But researchers consider TOI-1452 b one of the strongest known candidates for an ocean planet and an excellent target for Webb observations.
Imagine an entire planet with no familiar coastline, no continent on the horizon and no bitches—only an ocean stretching around the whole world.
Source: NASA / Université de Montréal / The Astronomical Journal.