Super-Earths are a lot like, well, Earth. They’re rocky worlds rather than ones made of gas or ice and sometimes they have water. However, astronomers say that super-Earth 55 Cancri E, also known as Janssen, might be more Earth-like than any found before, with a catch.
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00:00Super-Earths are a lot like, well, Earth.
00:06They're rocky worlds rather than ones made of gas or ice, and sometimes they have water.
00:11However, astronomers say that Super-Earth 55 Cancri e, also known as Jansen, might be
00:16more Earth-like than any other found before.
00:18Jansen is around 8.8 times the mass of Earth, and orbits one of the closest stars to our
00:23own system, called Copernicus, just 41 light-years away.
00:27What sets Jansen apart from other exoplanets of its kind, however, is that researchers
00:31have just discovered the first evidence that suggests it might have an atmosphere.
00:34The discovery was made using the James Webb Space Telescope.
00:37However, despite this new discovery and its relative proximity to our own solar system,
00:42experts say it's not a likely candidate for humanity to travel to.
00:45That's because it orbits Copernicus so closely that a year on Jansen only lasts 18 hours.
00:51That proximity to its host star means that the surface is a veritable hellscape, with
00:55temperatures on the ground reaching upwards of 4,172 degrees Fahrenheit.
01:00So how does Jansen still have an atmosphere?
01:02Experts say that an ancient atmosphere rich in helium and hydrogen is probably off the
01:06table, pointing instead to one made primarily of carbon monoxide and CO2, with the atmosphere
01:11being constantly re-upped by the outgassing from the molten surface.