NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has possibly detected atmospheric gases surrounding 55 Cancri e, a hot rocky exoplanet located approximately 41 light-years from Earth. Why is it so hot? The planet orbits just 1.4 million miles from its parent star, resulting in a surface that is likely to be molten.
Aside from the surface that mimics a bubbling ocean of magma, 55 Cancri e is also likely to be tidally locked, with a dayside that faces the star at all times and a nightside in perpetual darkness. When scientists studied Webb’s NIRCam data, they saw signs of an atmosphere containing carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide.
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We’ve spent the last ten years modelling different scenarios, trying to imagine what this world might look like. Finally getting some confirmation of our work is priceless!,” said Yamila Miguel, co-author from the Leiden Observatory and the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON).
