Scientists found an incandescent planet. It's 'constantly exploding.'

Watch out for lava.
By Mark Kaufman on May 14, 2024



A NASA artist's conception of an exoplanet teeming with volcanism. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Chris Smith (KRBwyle)
Astronomers discovered a truly tortured planet. It'll make you thankful for Earth.

In a distant solar system some 66 light-years away, researchers used NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) to spot a volcano-blanketed world new to science. It's covered in volcanoes because the other two planets in this system have forced it into an unusual elliptical orbit, which tugs and squeezes the world, roiling the interior.

The deep space situation is similar to what's happening on Jupiter's moon Io, an orb that's relentlessly locked in a tug-of-war between nearby Jovian moons. This dynamic squeezes and stretches Io, stoking lava to pour out of volcanoes.

"This is a terrestrial planet that I would describe as Io on steroids," Stephen Kane, a planetary astrophysicist at UC Riverside, said in a statement. "It’s been forced into a situation where it’s constantly exploding with volcanoes. At optical wavelengths you would be able to see a glowing, red-hot planet with a molten lava surface."

Even our most powerful telescopes can't capture a detailed view of a world many light-years away (a light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles), yet the NASA TESS instrument is designed to detect minute changes in light, and can see when a planet passes in front of its star — which results in a temporary dimming. This leads to the discovery of worlds beyond our solar system, called exoplanets.

More:
https://mashable.com/article/planet-volcanoes-space-discovery