An article published in the journal “Nature” describes a research that made it possible to map the climate on the exoplanet 55 Cancri e. It’s a planet already well known for the many studies carried out in recent years, in this case the Spitzer Space Telescope was used to try to get a better idea of ​​the existing temperatures on the surface of this super-Earth. They can reach extreme levels, estimated between 1,400 and 2,700 Kelvin.

A few weeks ago, a research was published focused on the planet 55 Cancri e’s atmosphere, this time a team of astronomers from the British University of Cambridge led by Brice Olivier Demory mapped the changes in the conditions on its surface in the course of an orbit. This is the first time that such a study is carried out on a rocky planet.

The planet 55 Cancri e is very close to its star so its year lasts only 18 hours. Because of this closeness it always shows the same face to its star, just like the Moon to the Earth. The consequence is that the face where it’s always day takes the intense heat coming from its star while the face where it’s always night is much less hot.

The Spitzer Space Telescope observed the planet 55 Cancri e for a total of 80 hours, equivalent to more than four local years. In this way the team was able to observe its phases, similar to those of the Moon as seen from Earth. The data obtained allowed to map the temperature changes on its surface detecting a 1,300 Kelvin difference between one face and the other.

Such a huge difference indicates that the heat is not distributed in the different areas of the planet 55 Cancri e. This suggests that the atmosphere is very thin or absent, an idea that goes against what was thought from previous research. Instead, the hypothesis that on the side of the planet facing its star the surface is covered with lava could be confirmed. On the opposite side the lava may have solidified preventing a spread of the heat.

Advances in discoveries on the planet 55 Cancri e, sometimes with apparent contradictions, continue with the accumulation of data collected by different telescopes and of the researchers’ experiences. Meanwhile, the IAU (International Astronomical Union) officially named it Janssen after the telescope pioneer Zacharias Janssen. Surely we’ll be hearing more about this exoplanet.