Astronomers will have a lot of work to do in the next few weeks, as NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will have to give the 55 Cancri e planet more attention. It’s the name of a world located just 50 light-years away from us that’s constantly burning.
Phys.org brings the news about the telescope having to bring back new important data about the horrible conditions that are present on 55 Cancri e. If you want to plan yourself a vacation and you found a way to travel tens of light-years through space, we have bad news for you. 55 Cancri 2 is surely no suitable destination. Otherwise, we strongly encourage you to share your secret of interstellar travel with the world in the comment section!
55 Cancri e is like a vision of Hell
Someone once said that the more he learns about the horrible conditions present on some exoplanets, the less he doubts the existence of Hell. 55 Cancri e can be considered one great example. This exoplanet orbits very close to its host star. If you think that our good old planet Mercury orbits the Sun too close, please keep in mind that 55 Cancri orbits its host star about 25 times closer! Therefore, you can already guess that the weather is pretty bad on the exoplanet – it’s scorching hot!
Here’s what NASA had to say about the extreme conditions present on 55 Cancri e:
With surface temperatures far above the melting point of typical rock-forming minerals, the day side of the planet is thought to be covered in oceans of lava,
Imagine if Earth were much, much closer to the Sun. So close that an entire year lasts only a few hours. So close that gravity has locked one hemisphere in permanent searing daylight and the other in endless darkness. So close that the oceans boil away, rocks begin to melt, and the clouds rain lava.
If you didn’t believe Hell is for real, it’s fascinating to see that astronomy might make you change your mind!
