Astronomers have been searching for years for rocky planets with atmospheres outside our solar system, a key feature for any potential life.
They finally found what they were looking for, apparently, on the planet called (55 Cancri E) or (Jansen). But it is a raging planet whose surface consists mostly of molten rock, which eliminates any hope of habitability on it.
Researchers said on Wednesday that the planet is “like an enormous Earth… a rocky world much larger than our planet but smaller than Neptune, and it swims in an orbit dangerously close to a star that is less bright and slightly smaller than our sun, as it very quickly completes an orbit around the star every 18 minutes.” An hour or so.”
Infrared observations using two instruments on board the James Webb Telescope indicate the presence of a large atmosphere, but it does not provide the conditions for life, as a huge ocean of molten rock continues to refill the atmosphere almost completely with the gases it emits.
“The atmosphere is likely rich in carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide, but it may contain other gases such as water vapor or sulfur dioxide,” said Reneau, a celestial scientist at NASA’s Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology. Determines the precise components of the atmosphere.
The telescope data also did not indicate the density of the atmosphere. It may be as dense as Earth’s atmosphere or denser than Venus’ atmosphere, which is a toxic atmosphere and the densest in our solar system, Renyu Hu said.
The planet’s mass is 8.8 times greater than our planet, and its diameter is twice the length of Earth’s diameter. It revolves around its star at a distance of one to 25 of the distance between the planet Mercury and the Sun. As a result, its surface temperature reaches 1725 degrees Celsius.
It is possible that only one side of the planet faces the sun while the other is immersed in complete darkness, as is the case with the moon and the Earth, as the inhabitants of the Earth see only one side of the moon at all times. The planet is located in the Milky Way galaxy, 41 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cancer.
“It is not possible for life to exist on the planet,” Renew said, because its temperature is too intense for liquid water to exist on it, which is a basic condition for life.
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