James Webb Space Telescope Could Help Explain Hellish Super-Earth’s Strange Signals That Keep Bizarre Exoplanet From Losing, Re-Growing Atmosphere

For two decades, astronomers haven't found the answer to the bizarre behavior of a hellish super-Earth exoplanet. However, they are hopeful that the James Webb Space Telescope could be helpful in their pursuit of unraveling the mysteries behind the 55 Cancri e exoplanet.

JWST Can Help Unravel 55 Cancri e's Mystery?

According to a recent study, the hellish planet's volcanoes occasionally erupt, spouting hot gas that creates an atmosphere before the atmosphere burns away, leaving the planet bare once more. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be trained on the peculiar exoplanet to test that hypothesis.

The current study's authors propose that the planet's closeness to its star is causing it to outgas, which triggers enormous volcanoes and thermal vents to erupt and spew hot, carbon-rich components into space. However, the planet cannot retain that atmosphere for very long due to the intense heat. Eventually, this gas is blown away, leaving the planet empty until the outgassing resumes.

The climate of 55 Cancri e is unstable, unlike that of most planets. While the star's intense radiation and solar wind drive the atmosphere away, the outgassing process strives to thicken it up. However, there is an imbalance between these two processes, which causes the planet to have an atmosphere and occasionally, not occasionally.

According to astronomers, this imbalance in the planetary atmosphere can account for the puzzling transit signals. The planet's hot surface continues to radiate infrared radiation while it is in its "bald" phase when it no longer has an atmosphere. In this phase, the planet has no visible light coming from its atmosphere because it no longer has one. All of the energy emitted by the surface, including visible light, is visible in the transit signal when the atmosphere expands.

Although this is simply a theory, JWST provides a means of testing it. Scientists could ascertain whether an atmosphere is constant, thereby measuring the pressure and temperature of the planet's atmosphere.

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Exoplanet 55 Cancri e's Bizarre Transit Signal

55 Cancri e is a super-Earth exoplanet. It is a rocky world about eight times as massive as Earth and was discovered in 2004. The exoplanet is around 40 light-years from our planet.

At less than 2% of the distance between Earth and the sun, the planet is so close to its parent star that it completes a circle in just 17 hours. This creates some fairly unusual weather patterns that have eluded scientific explanations.

The characteristics of the planet's transit signal may be the most perplexing feature. This is the light that can be seen from Earth when 55 Cancri e crosses its parent star's face, creating a minuscule eclipse, and it is also the light that can be seen when the planet moves in front of its star.

There are times when 55 Cancri e does not emit any visible light while it is behind its star, and there are other periods when the planet does. There is always a signal in infrared light, but of varying amplitude.

According to observations of that infrared light made by the Spitzer Space Telescope, the planet's dayside reached extreme heat levels of more than 4,400 degrees Fahrenheit (2,427 degrees Celsius). In contrast, the nightside only reached temperatures of about 2,060 F (1127 C).