Hypothetical News?
Referring to the article "Hard rain on lava planets", I ask myself as a trained astronomical layman how the information content of this message is to be evaluated.
Referring to the article "Hard rain on lava planets" in SuW 7/2021, p. 14, as a trained astronomical layman I ask myself how the information content of this message is to be evaluated. Even the introductory sentence "Two astronomers want to have identified particularly harsh conditions on an exoplanet" creates an unpleasant irritation for me. Furthermore, one finds in the article that these are assumptions that have to be confirmed by observations. The question inevitably arises for me whether these are mere speculations (supported by computer simulations) or hypotheses with sound scientific justification. If you allow me to express a wish or a suggestion, I would be happy to receive an expert opinion from your company in the case of such contributions, which are very much in the subjunctive, as to how probable the assumptions made are and what the technical conditions look like to support them to verify. Although the referenced article mentions the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), I have a hard time imagining that the lava sea described in the referenced article is observable.
