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Recent research has found evidence of an atmosphere on 55 Cancri e, a rocky exoplanet just 41 light-years away. Despite its proximity to its sun-like star, which causes extreme heat and a molten surface, the planet likely has a secondary atmosphere formed from volcanic processes. Credit: SciTechDaily.comLocated a mere 41 light years from Earth, the exoplanet 55 Cancri e is so intensely hot that scientists once doubted its ability to sustain an atmosphere.
This light curve shows the change in brightness of the 55 Cancri system as the rocky planet 55 Cancri e, the closest of the five known planets in the system, moves behind the star. This phenomenon is known a secondary eclipse. The temperature of the planet calculated from this observation is about 1,800 kelvins , which is significantly lower than would be expected if the planet has no atmosphere or only a thin rock-vapor atmosphere. This relatively low temperature indicates that heat is being distributed from the dayside to the nightside of the planet, possibly by a volatile-rich atmosphere.
“It was really exciting,” Bess said about working on such a significant project as an undergraduate. “I thought it was so fascinating and new and interesting to be able to work with this brand new amazing telescope and amazing people from NASA. It was a lot of fun and a lot of work and I enjoyed every second of it.”
The amount of mid-infrared light emitted by the planet shows that its dayside temperature is significantly lower than what it would be if it did not have an atmosphere to distribute heat from the dayside to the nightside. The dip in the spectrum between 4 and 5 microns can be explained by absorption of those wavelengths by carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide molecules in the atmosphere.
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