Cool Facts about the 'Hell Planet' 55 Cancri e

55 Cancri e (Planet Janssen) is a 'Super-Earth' exoplanet orbiting a star similar to our Sun. It orbits a star called Copernicus (55 Cancri a), which is part of a binary system with a red dwarf star (55 Cancri b) about 41 light years away. The exoplanet has a molten lava surface and is tidally locked to its star. Because of this, it is often called hellish or the 'Hell Planet.' It was discovered in 2004 and was once called the 'Diamond planet.' Located in the constellation of Cancer, Copernicus is a little over 40 light-years away.

Interesting Astronomy Books:
Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth
by Avi Loeb: https://tinyurl.com/3r79s6na

Confessions of an Alien Hunter: A Scientist's Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence by Seth Shostak: https://tinyurl.com/5n6frts7

* Buying through these Amazon affiliate links doesn't cost you anything extra, but it helps to support this channel.

#astronomy #space #astrophysics

Video credit: ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser
Lava Life Image credit: NASA-JPL/Caltech

How the 'hell planet' got so hot: New measurements reveal the orbital path of planet 55 Cnc e: https://phys.org/news/2022-12-hell-planet-hot-reveal-orbital.html

Fair Use Disclaimer:
- Copyright Disclaimer under Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for ‘fair use' for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research.
- Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.