Neptunian desert

The Neptunian desert or sub-Jovian desert is broadly defined as the region close to a star (period < 2–4 days) where no Neptune-sized ( > 0.1 M_J) exoplanets are found. This zone receives strong irradiation from the star, meaning the planets cannot retain their gaseous atmospheres: They evaporate, leaving just a rocky core.

Neptune-sized planets should be easier to find in short-period orbits, and many sufficiently massive planets have been discovered with longer orbits from surveys such as CoRoT and Kepler. The physical mechanisms that result in the observed Neptunian desert are currently unknown, but have been suggested to be due to a different formation mechanism for short-period super-Earth and Jovian exoplanets, similar to the reasons for the brown-dwarf desert.

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