An alien world twice the size of Earth, covered with lava rivers – and with a DIAMOND core – has been uncovered.
The mysterious planet Cancri 55 e has an atmosphere of hydrogen cyanide – a chemical weapon used by the Nazis during World War 2 – and a surface temperature of 2,000C.
Space boffins believe it is made of carbon and its internal pressure is powerful enough that its core is one huge diamond.
NASA has created a cool animation based on recent observations to show what the so-called “exoplanet” – a planet outside our solar system – might look like.
The planet – also known as Janssen – orbits a Sun-like star 40 light years away named 55 Cancri A.
It is “tidally locked” with its mother star – meaning the same face is always pointed towards the fireball, just as same face of the Moon always looks towards Earth.
This means one side is like a roaring inferno – and the other is shrouded in eternal darkness.
NASA posted a “selfie” of the hellish world on its Instagram account (who knew).
The caption with the image reads: “Imagine a world with rivers of lava and big pools of extremely hot magma.
“This animation shows one possible scenario for the rocky exoplanet 55 Cancri e, nearly two times the size of Earth.
“Observations from our Spitzer Space Telescope have led to the first temperature map of this planet.
“The map reveals extreme temperature swings from one side of the planet to the other and hints that a possible reason for this is the presence of lava flows.”
