NASA scientists to test James Webb Space Telescope on planet with lava-spewing clouds

Imagine a planet where a year lasts just 18 hours. This weird characteristic signifies that planet is orbiting extremely close to its star and is tidally locked as a result. When a planet is tidally locked, one of its sides always faces sun which makes dayside unimaginably hot while  opposite is in endless darkness. NASA says that on such planets, extreme temperatures cause oceans to boil away, rocks begin to melt, and clouds rain lava.

With James Webb Space Telescope, scientists are planning to study surface and atmosphere of such planets. According to NASA, researchers have locked ir sight on two exoplanets-  lava-covered 55 Cancri e and airless LHS 3844 b. James Webb Telescope will be used to study geology of se rocky worlds that reside approximately 50 light-years away. 

strange world of 55 Cancri e

(Illustration of rocky exoplanets LHS 3844 b and 55 Cancri e as compared to Earth and Neptune; Image: NASA)

This planet circles its stars at a distance of less than 2.4 million kilometers away, which is just one twenty-fifth of distance between Mercury and Sun. Owing to such a tight orbit, one year on this planet lasts only 18 hours and  dayside of planet is thought to be covered in oceans of lava. However, observations from Spitzer space telescope have revealed a strange characteristic of this planet. 

Scientists have known that a planet orbiting its star this close is usually tidally locked which results in hottest spot being on dayside. Besides, amount of heat emitted from dayside does not change much over time, however, this is not case with Cancri e. Surprisingly, hottest region of this planet shifts occasionally and total amount of heat detected from dayside varies. 

Following this discovery, experts have suggested that this planet might not be tidally locked and just like Mercury, it is rotating three times for every two orbits. Alexis Brandeker, a researcher from Stockholm University and leer of team studying this planet said in a NASA statement, "That could explain why hottest part of planet is shifted. Just like on Earth, it would take time for surface to heat up. hottest time of day would be in afternoon, not right at noon". This scenario has raised possibility that surface vapourises during day, turns into lava droplets, and rains during evening. 

Webb's second target

second target of Webb telescope is planet LHS 3884B, which completes one year in just 11 hours but it is not hot enough for surface to be molten due to a relatively small and cooler star. Astronomers will study this rocky world as well, however, Spitzer's data has revealed that a substantial atmosphere is highly unlikely on planet. Explaining importance of se exoplanets, Laura Kreidberg at Max Planck Institute for Astronomy said, "y will give us fantastic new perspectives on Earth-like planets in general, helping us learn what early Earth might have been like when it was hot like se planets are today".