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How the ‘Hell Planet’ got so Hot: New measurements reveal the orbital path of planet 55 Cnc e

How the 'hell planet' got so hot
An artist’s impression of the planet Janssen, which orbits its star so closely that its entire surface is a lava ocean that reaches temperatures of around 2,000 degrees Celsius. Credit: ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser

New research sheds light on how the “hell planet” got so devilishly hot and how other worlds might become too toasty for life. That rocky world, 55 Cnc e (nicknamed “Janssen”), orbits its star so closely that a year lasts just 18 hours, its surface is a giant lava ocean, and its interior may be chock-full of diamond.

The fresh insights come thanks to a new tool called EXPRES that captured ultra-precise measurements of the starlight shining from Janssen’s sun, known as Copernicus or 55 Cnc...

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