Earth-sized alien planet is gripped by widespread volcanism

An Earth-sized planet orbiting a faint star in our galactic neighborhood is offering some of the best evidence yet of volcanism beyond our Solar System, with observations suggesting a bumpy, rocky world plagued by constant eruptions.

Scientists said on Wednesday that the planet, the third detected orbiting this particular star, is likely covered in volcanoes — similar to Jupiter’s moon Io, the most volcanically active body in our system. In the Solar System, Earth and Venus are volcanically active, as are some of Jupiter’s moons.

The planet’s volcanism was not directly observed, but inferred due to its significant gravitational interaction with the larger of the other two planets orbiting the faint star. The larger planet’s gravitational pull could compress and flex the newly identified planet, heating its interior and causing volcanic activity on its surface, similar to Io, according to the researchers.

Planets beyond our solar system are called exoplanets.

“There is not yet any direct observational evidence of volcanism on exoplanets, but this planet is a particularly likely candidate,” said University of Kansas astronomy professor Ian Crossfield, one of the authors of the research published in the journal Nature.

It’s a planet that doesn’t rotate — with one side perpetually illuminated by day and the other in darkness.

“On the daylit side, it’s too hot to have liquid water, so it’s probably too dry and hot — probably a desert. On the night side, there is possibly a large glacier,” said study co-author Björn Benneke, head of the astronomy group at the University of Montreal.

The planet is located in the Milky Way, about 86 light years away from our solar system. A light year is the distance that light travels in one year, equivalent to 9.5 trillion kilometers.