An article published in the journal “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society” describes a study of the exoplanet 55 Cancri e. It claims that on its surface there’s and extremely violent volcanic activity. The consequence is that the temperature is not only very high but has swings ranging from 1,000° to 2,700° Celsius (from 1800° to 4900° Fahrenheit). Among the authors of the article there’s Dr. Nikku Madhusudhan of British Institute of Astronomy of the British University of Cambridge, who has been studying 55 Cancri e for some time and has already published a study in which he argues that this exoplanet may contain a diamond large three times the Earth.
The exoplanet 55 Cancri e, that is about 40 light years away from Earth, was discovered in 2004 and its emissions have been studied using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. It’s a super-Earth that is about twice the Earth’s size and about eight times its mass.
55 Cancri e is relatively close so is the subject of many studies and observations, many more than the average super-Earth, which are usually too far away to get enough information. This exoplanet has become even more interesting because of the strange features that is revealing.
It was thanks to the Spitzer Space Telescope that the authors of this study were able to analyze the sudden changes in 55 Cancri e surface conditions. This is another oddity of this exoplanet and the interpretation of the data gathered is still preliminary. Despite that, the researchers believe that these huge temperature changes may be caused by enormous plumes of gas and dust that occasionally cover the surface, which can be partially molten.
The plumes can be caused by volcanic activity exceptionally intense, even greater than that observed on Io, one of Jupiter’s moons. Io is the most geologically active body in the solar system with more than 400 active volcanoes. That means that the volcanic activity on 55 Cancri e should be really intense to surpass Io’s.
More analyzes will be needed to try to understand what exactly is happening on the surface of 55 Cancri e. These studies are made more complicated by the fact that the new data suggest a different composition compared to previous data. Initially, it looked like it could be a water world, although water would in a superfluid state, which means it’s gas but it behaves more like a liquid. Now there’s some doubt about the fact that there’s so much carbon on the planet.
The researchers need to understand why the information about 55 Cancri e is so different over time. It’s a scientific mystery that can be an important chapter in the study of super-Earths exactly because it can teach us a lot about the kind of data that we can get observing them and the correct way to interpret them. In this sense, the upcoming telescopes will also be very useful.
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