Quote:
"Superearth" is a bit toasty with a sun-facing temperature of 2,000 Kelvin (3,140 degrees Fahrenheit)
Affixed in an 18-hour tidally locked orbit, 55 Cancri e is a bit like Earth, although in many ways altogether alien.
The water-world planet is located in a system with at least 5 planets just 41 light years from Earth. The tidal-locking means that its orbit takes the same amount of time that it takes to rotate on its axis -- hence the same "side" of the planet is always facing the Sun. If Earth were tidally locked (which it is not), a particular side (say North and South America) would enjoy 24-hour days, while the opposite side (Asia) would be cloaked in perpetual darkness.
Affixed in an 18-hour tidally locked orbit, 55 Cancri e is a bit like Earth, although in many ways altogether alien.
The water-world planet is located in a system with at least 5 planets just 41 light years from Earth. The tidal-locking means that its orbit takes the same amount of time that it takes to rotate on its axis -- hence the same "side" of the planet is always facing the Sun. If Earth were tidally locked (which it is not), a particular side (say North and South America) would enjoy 24-hour days, while the opposite side (Asia) would be cloaked in perpetual darkness.
Source
NASA Source
Cool. Maybe it has flaming mermaids living there.
Edited by airisom2 - 6/11/12 at 9:31pm
My first computer
(20 items) |
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My first computer
(20 items) |
