The world is expected to get a closer look in the coming weeks at the conditions governing a hellish planet engulfed in constant flames.
As NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope undergoes final calibrations, the space agency has its sights set on two super-Earths on one of its first courses of action: the lava-covered 55 Cancri e and the airless LHS 3844 b.
The super-hot 55 Cancri e orbits so close to its star that its endless burning could probably best be understood in terms of the biblical qualities of hell:
“Imagine if Earth were much, much closer to the Sun. So close that an entire year lasts only a few hours. So close that gravity has locked one hemisphere in permanent searing daylight and the other in endless darkness. So close that the oceans boil away, rocks begin to melt, and the clouds rain lava,” the space agency said in a report last week.
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