55 Cancri, "hell star" (photo: NASA)
A new study published in "Nature Astronomy" reveals more of the star that was affectionately nicknamed the "hell star" because of its appearance, and explains how the "Super Earth" star became a big ball of hot lava.
The star, also known as "55 Cancri e", orbits so close to its sun that our year (one year around the sun) lasts only 18 hours, while its surface is so hot that it has become an ocean of lava.
Accurate new measurements of the sun of the "hell star," dubbed "Copernicus," show that the hot star's orbit is 70 times closer to its sun than Earth orbits our sun—accounting for its balmy temperatures of 2,300 degrees Celsius (or 2,573 Kelvin ) across the star.
Although the "hell star" also known as "Jensen" has always been hot, the boiling lava conditions on its surface were apparently created by the star's pull toward the equator of its sun, in the gravitational relationship between Copernicus and its sister stars - since the system of " Jensen" is one of the most multi-star systems ever discovered.
The researchers also believe that due to the boiling temperatures there, there is no chance that life could have developed there.
The unique case of Jensen, as it is also the first star discovered to have an extremely short period (a "year" of 18 hours), is used by scientists to learn more about the formation of stars.
technology
Tags
Star
hell