NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has observed the super Earth 55 Cancri e and found evidence of a hydrogen-rich atmosphere. The planet, located 41 light years from Earth, has a surface hot enough to melt rock due to its extremely close orbit around its star.
Researchers used the telescope to observe five eclipses of the planet, which measures about 1.88 Earth radii and eight Earth masses. It completes an orbit in roughly 0.7 days. The data showed abundant carbon monoxide along with smaller amounts of carbon dioxide and large quantities of hydrogen.
The findings, submitted for publication in Nature Astronomy, suggest the atmosphere forms from gases escaping the planet's molten interior. Variations across the observations may result from volcanic outgassing or temporary clouds.
A study quote states that the results point to an interior with relatively low oxygen fugacity, consistent with outgassing from a reduced magma ocean. The planet was first identified in 2004.