55 Cancri e: A Rocky World with a Thick Atmosphere

Join a fascinating 30-minute SETI Institute video presentation where planetary scientist Beth Johnson interviews NASA JPL researcher Renyu Hu about groundbreaking discoveries regarding the super-Earth exoplanet 55 Cancri e. Explore how this distant world, located over 40 light years away, provides crucial insights into the early conditions of Mars, Venus, and Earth billions of years ago. Learn about the significance of magma oceans in creating early planetary atmospheres and their potential role in supporting life. Discover new findings from JWST observations examining 55 Cancri e's atmosphere, and understand how studying this extreme world helps illuminate the divergent evolutionary paths of our solar system's rocky planets. Delve into cutting-edge research that connects the characteristics of this distant super-Earth to fundamental questions about planetary habitability and atmospheric development.