Catch the light from super-earth

Light from a planet twice the size of the Earth has reached Spitzer's lens in an event known as astronomical achievement by astronomers.

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope captured light from a planet called 55 Cancri e, orbiting the star 41 light-years away from Earth, 55 Cancri, located in the constellation Cancer.

One day on the planet only lasts about 18 hours and it is one of five planets around central star 55 Cancri.

Spitzer opened a strange world on the planet 55 Cancri e

Planet 55 Cancri e was first discovered in 2004 and is a lifeless celestial body. Instead, it is listed as a super-Earth because of its double size and eight times the mass of the earth.

However, until recently, scientists have yet to find a way to obtain infrared light from the world.

'Spitzer once again impressed us very much , ' according to Space.com quoted Bill Danch, who is responsible for the Spitzer program at NASA headquarters in Washington.

With Spitzer's achievement this time, experts know the unusual features of 55 Cancri e.

The planet is located very close to the central star, 26 times closer than the distance from Mercury to the Sun. Therefore, the face facing the central star of 55 Cancri is extremely hot, with a temperature of up to 1,726 degrees Celsius, and the other side completely engulfed in the eternal darkness.

On top of that, experts discovered that the planet is flowing liquid. Previous observations showed that one fifth of 55 Cancri was made of light elements, including water, but the terrible temperature and pressure on the planet created what scientists call a state. 'Supercritical liquid'.

The finding is similar to the hypothesis that the water world contains supercritical fluid, indicating a rocky planet, covered with supercritical liquid and above a slightly dense curtain.

The results of this study are published by the Astrophysical Journal.