LHS 3844 b: The Dead Rock That Shows Why Earth-Sized Does Not Mean Earth-Like

JWST has given astronomers one of the clearest looks yet at the surface of a rocky exoplanet, LHS 3844 b, also called Kuaʻkua. The result is not alien life, not oxygen, and not a second Earth. It is a dark, hot, likely airless super-Earth orbiting a red dwarf star every 11 hours, with a basalt-like or space-weathered surface and no detectable atmosphere. The discovery matters because it shows that the exoplanet era is moving from planet detection into planet interpretation, and it forces a harder lesson: Earth-sized does not mean Earth-like.