14 DAY TRIAL // The rocky planet 55 Cancri e sits at a distance of about 40 light-years away from us, in the Cancer constellation. It orbits a star not very different to our Sun, and astronomers say that it is about 2 times larger and 8 times heavier than Earth.
55 Cancri e has an orbit of just 18 hours. Unlike Earth, it does not seem to move around its central axis, which means that one of its sides is perpetually facing its parent star.
While sifting through data delivered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, scientists with the University of Cambridge found that the planet sometimes experiences great variations in its surface temperature.
In a report, they researchers say that the surface temperature on 55 Cancri e sometimes goes from being one of about 1,000 degrees Celsius (about 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit) to being one of 2,700 degrees Celsius (nearly 4,900 degrees Fahrenheit).
The University of Cambridge astronomers further explain that, to their knowledge, their study is the first to document atmospheric variability on a planet located outside the Solar System.
“We saw a 300 percent change in the signal coming from this planet, which is the first time we’ve seen such a huge level of variability in an exoplanet,” scientist Brice-Olivier Demory said in a statement.
Although further investigations are needed to confirm their theory, Brice-Olivier Demory and fellow researchers suspect that the planet experiences such shifts in its surface temperature due to intense volcanic activity.