A FIERY hell-world that would instantly roast visitors alive has a vast lava ocean – and may be packed with rare gems.
The bizarre alien world is even believed to have grown a second atmosphere after its first was destroyed.
This strange and deadly planet is officially known as 55 Cancri e – also designated as Janssen – and it’s what scientists call a “super Earth“.
That means it’s bigger than Earth, but not as massive as Neptune or Uranus.
It’s also an exoplanet, which means it exists outside of our own solar system. To date, more than 6,000 exoplanets have been found.
Initially, scientists believed that the planet had significant amounts of carbon that had been compressed into diamonds.
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However, more recent research suggests that the world – which scientists say is a rocky planet – might actually be packed with sapphire instead.
But despite its potentially glittering appearance, it’s not a place that you’d want to visit.
That’s because the planet is totally inhospitable – totally unfit for human life.
“This super hot world is covered in a global ocean of lava,” Nasa warned.
Though the space agency did add that 55 Cancri e “has sparkling skies”, giving visitors a delightful final view before they perished.
The planet was first discovered back in 2004, and has a mass of about 7.99 Earths, according to Nasa.
It takes just over half a day to orbit its star – that’s compared to our own planet, which lumbers around the Sun over 365 days.
The toasty 2,400C temperature is due to the fact that 55 Cancri e is very close to its star.
In fact, the average distance from its star is just 1.4 million miles. For contrast, Earth sits about 93 million miles from the Sun.
“The star, 55 Cancri, is a K-type star nearly the same size and mass as the Sun, but slightly cooler and dimmer,” Nasa explained.
“It is just bright enough to see with the naked eye in a very dark sky. The star and planet are so close to each other that the star would appear 70 times wider in the planet’s sky than the Sun appears in our sky.
“In addition, because the planet is likely to be tidally locked, from any given point, the star would appear fixed in the sky.”
The temperature varies significantly on the 55 Cancri e, which may be due to volcanic activity.
Interestingly, the planet is believed to be tidally locked. That means the planet has a “dayside” that is permanently facing its star.
EXOPLANETS – EXPLAINED!
Here’s what you need to know…
- An exoplanet is a planet that is located outside of our Solar System and one that is orbiting its own star, as Earth orbits the Sun
- They are very hard to see with telescopes because they are often hidden by the brightness of their star
- Nasa sent the Kepler space telescope into orbit with the purpose of finding Earth-sized exoplanets that might support life
- More than 6,000 exoplanets have been discovered so far and more missions to find even more exoplanets are planned
- A good way to spot an exoplanet is to look for “wobbly” stars because a disruption to starlight can indicate that a planet is orbiting it and blocking its light intermittently
- Expoplanets are very common in the universe and the more we find that look like Earth, the closer we get to knowing whether Earth is the only life-bearing planet
Picture Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
And it’s believed to have an atmosphere that’s rich in either carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide.
Scientists writing in the journal Nature believe that the vast magma ocean on the planet may be providing gas that sustains this atmosphere.
The planet’s first atmosphere was believed to have been destroyed by radiation from the star.
And the current atmosphere is believed to have “grown” from gases sourced from inside the rocky interior of the planet.
Nasa also said that there may be “short-lived clouds made of tiny droplets of lava” on the planet.
And it’s about 41 lightyears away from Earth, so there’s no chance of you visiting it any time soon.
