NASA Investigates Hell Planet

VIVA – The United States Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) called the surface of Planet 55 Cancri e covered in a sea of lava. This is known because the surface temperature is above the melting point of the rock forming minerals.

NASA scientists hope to gain new insights into a distant world, whose landscape may be very similar to the hell in the Bible, the holy book of Christians.

Planet 55 Cancri e, dubbed the planet of hell, is located about 50 light years from Earth and orbits a Sun-like star at a distance of less than 1.5 million miles or one-twentieth of the distance between Mercury and the Sun.

"Imagine if the Earth is very close to the Sun. So close that a full year only lasts a few hours," said NASA's official statement, as quoted from the Sputniknews website on Monday, June 6, 2022.

The proximity to the star means that the planet’s gravity has locked the heat that permanently burns the surface on one side. While the others were covered in endless darkness.

“So close that the oceans boil, the rocks begin to melt, and the clouds rain down on the lava,” NASA scientist said.

Not only that, they also point to the possibility that this hellish planet has a day night cycle.

Therefore, Planet 55 Cancri e could have a thin atmosphere that forms when the surface heats, melts, and evaporates during the day.

"At night the vapor will cool and condense to form lava droplets that will rain back to the surface, becoming solid again as night falls," said NASA scientists.

Planet 55 Cancri e has been named one of the first investigative targets for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, which is expected to become fully operational this month.