Lava Oceans of Exoplanets ⚡ экспресс
Lava worlds are rocky planets with a dayside melted by stellar heat. It turns out that even a slightly eccentric orbit (with an eccentricity of a few percent) generates powerful tides that create a deep magma ocean. Tidal waves interfere, producing chaotically wandering hot spots and irregular brightness from the planet. This explains the strange variability of some exoplanets and is reminiscent of ocean tides on Earth, only with liquid rock instead of water.
A planet whose orbit is a little stretched dives closer to its star each pass, then backs away. The varying gravity heats it up, solid rocks melt, becoming an ocean of lava.
On the night side, a frozen crust acts as a shore. Tidal waves crash against it, collide, and spawn wandering hot spots. As a result, the planet’s glow flickers erratically, like a candle flame. Waves can rise several kilometers high—slow-moving stone ridges crawling across the scorching expanse.
🎯 The temperature of these lava oceans is higher than in a smelting furnace: around 3000°C.
🎬 Lava worlds like Mustafar from Star Wars turn out even more turbulent than in fiction, thanks to tides.