Human beings may soon get a close look at a planet that resembles the Biblical Hell, where the planet perpetually burns.
The exoplanet 55 Cancri e, whose mass is eight times that of Earth, orbits a star called Copernicus, 41 light-years from Earth. Copernicus, like our own sun, is a G-type star, and 55 Cancri e, first discovered in 2004, sits is less than 1.5 million miles from the star, 25 times closer that Mercury is from our sun.
“With surface temperatures far above the melting point of typical rock-forming minerals, the day side of the planet is thought to be covered in oceans of lava,” NASA reported.
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“Imagine if Earth were much, much closer to the Sun,” NASA continued. “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.”
Oddly, the hottest area on the exoplanet does not face the star.
Read more: Daily Wire
