Hot, small and old—exoplanet TOI-561 b is just about the worst place to look for alien air. James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations of the blazing-hot lava planet TOI-561 b suggest not only that it has a thick atmosphere but also that it may have had one for billions of years. In our solar system, atmospheres obey a simple rule: bigger, cooler worlds hold onto their air, and smaller, warmer ones don’t. TOI-561 b is also about twice as old as our solar system, so its sunblasted atmosphere would have had plenty of time to escape. Every planet in our solar system was once molten like TOI-561 b, he points out; this unexpected atmosphere could have a lot to teach us about the origins of our own air.