Super Earth exoplanet made of hot lava, says NASA
Posted on: 02/Apr/2016 9:59:21 AM
Scientists at NASA have said that the Super Earth planet 55 Cancri e is extremely hot. The planet is located about 40 light years away from Earth. NASA said that the Spitzer Space Telescope has created a temperature map for the exoplanet, which means that it is a planet out side the Earth`s solar system,
An astrophysicist from the University of Cambridge said, The latest findings tell us the planet has hot nights and significantly hotter days. NASA has said that the exoplanet is very close to its star. It orbits the star every 18 hours. Findings show that the day side of the planet is always facing the star. This side us about 4,400 degrees Fahrenheit and the night side is about 2340 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a NASA release, the astrophysicist said, This indicates the planet inefficiently transports heat around the planet. We propose this could be explained by an atmosphere that would exist only on the day side of the planet, or by lava flows at the planet surface. The data suggests the planet doesn`t have a massive atmosphere. The lava flows on the night side might harden without transporting heat. The day side could possibly have rivers of lava and big pools of extremely hot magma, but we think the night side would have solidified lava flows like those found in Hawaii.
