SPACE — The first super-Earth discovered by astronomers has been emitting strange signals for nearly two decades. Recently, scientists were enlightened about what was happening in a world 40 light years away from us.
According to a new study, volcanoes on the terrifying planet 55 Cancri e periodically open up and spew hot gases that form the atmosphere. However, the atmosphere burned and made the planet bare again. Future testing of this theory will involve the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
Planet 55 Cancri e is a rocky world like Earth, but eight times larger than our planet. It was discovered in 2004 and is about 40 light years from Earth.
The planet is so close to its host star, less than 2 percent of the distance between Earth and the Sun, that it can complete a full orbit in just 17 hours. This has led to some extreme conditions that are difficult to explain on the planet.
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The most puzzling aspect is the nature of the transit signal, which was reported in the Astrophysical Journal Letters last September. It is the light visible from our Earth. When 55 Cancri e crossed the surface of its parent star, its light dimmed, while when it passed behind its star, there was visible light.
Sometimes, when 55 Cancri e passes behind its star, no visible light comes from the planet itself, while other times the planet emits a strong light signal. In infrared light, there is always a signal, although the signal strength varies.
Infrared light observations with the Spitzer Space Telescope show that the daytime side of the planet experiences very hot temperatures, namely more than 4,400 degrees Fahrenheit (2,427 degrees Celsius). Meanwhile, the night side has cooler, but still terrible temperatures, namely around 2,060 F (1127 C).
In the new research, the authors hypothesize that the planet’s proximity to its star causes the release of gas. This means that giant volcanoes and thermal vents are opening, spewing hot, carbon-rich elements into the atmosphere.
But all of this cannot last long in the atmosphere because of the extreme heat. The gas was eventually blown away, leaving the planet until the gas release began again.
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In contrast to most planets, 55 Cancri e’s atmosphere is unstable. The process of releasing gas tries to increase the atmosphere, while the extreme radiation and solar wind from the star blows it away. However, these two processes are not balanced, causing planets to sometimes have atmospheres, but sometimes not.
Researchers believe an imbalance in the planet’s atmosphere could explain the strange transit signal. When a planet is in its bald phase without an atmosphere, no visible light comes out of its atmosphere, because there is none. But the planet’s hot surface still emits infrared light.
When the atmosphere is plentiful, both visible light and all radiation coming from the surface appear in the transit signal. While this is just a hypothesis, JWST offers a way to test it. By measuring the pressure and temperature of a planet’s atmosphere, scientists will be able to determine whether the atmosphere has always been there. Source: Space.com
2023-10-23 05:26:00
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