First temperature map of a “super-Earth” reveals lava world
Astronomers from MIT, Cambridge University, and elsewhere have generated the first temperature map of a “super-Earth” exoplanet, revealing an inhospitable world covered in rivers and lakes of boiling hot magma. Temperatures on the planet are so high that any atmosphere is likely to have been burned off or vaporized into space. The results are published today in the journal Nature. The planet, named 55 Cancri e, resides in the constellation Cancer, at a relatively close 40 light years from Earth. It’s thought to have a rocky, rather than gaseous, composition, and at roughly twice the size of our planet, it is considered a super-Earth. But that is where all Earthly similarities end, as 55 Cancri e is essentially a heat-seeking fireball, orbiting extremely close to its star. It circles in just 18 hours, compared with Earth’s leisurely 365-day journey around the sun. Because of its scorching orbit, scientists have thought 55 Cancri e...