The artistic vision of exoplanets 55 Cancer e. It is believed that it has a more dense atmospheric layer than the Earth, as well as similar chemical constituents
55 Cancer e is twice the size of our planet and covered with lava. The exoplanet is located extremely close to the star, so one side is constantly turned and heated. After analyzing the observations of the Spitzer telescope, the researchers believe that the lava flows freely in the lakes on the side turned to the star, and freezes at night.
A deeper observation has shown that the exoplanet is capable of having an Earth-type atmosphere, but more dense. Lava lakes without an atmosphere would create hot local points with a high temperature index, which is not consistent with the survey data.
If there is lava there, then it should cover the entire planet. But we do not see this because of the atmospheric layer. The improved model also showed that the night side is not as cold as previously believed. The temperature on it is maintained up to 1300 ° C-1400 ° C, and on the hot side - 2300 ° C. If there were no atmosphere, the difference should be more extreme. The atmosphere may contain water, nitrogen and oxygen molecules. The density of the planet resembles the Earth, and therefore refers to the rocky type. Heating from a star is too huge to sustain life, but liquid water has chances.
The exoplanet is also interesting because it is potentially rich in carbon, and high temperatures and pressures can form a huge amount of diamonds. Spitzer monitored in 2013 with an IR light camera. Now scientists are trying to understand how the atmosphere could survive in such conditions.
