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[00:00.40] Astronomers have searched for years for rocky planets outside our solar system.

[00:08.11] They have finally found one with an atmosphere.

[00:13.42] Scientists believe that a rocky planet with an atmosphere is key to sustaining life.

[00:21.65] But the planet that astronomers found offers no hope for life.

[00:28.56] Its surface is made up of molten rock.

[00:33.61] Researchers recently called the planet a “super-Earth.”

[00:38.92] It is a rocky world much larger than our planet but smaller than the gas giant in our solar system, Neptune.

[00:49.01] The planet orbits extremely close to its star.

[00:53.26] The star is less bright and smaller than our own.

[00:59.11] Observations using two devices aboard the James Webb Space Telescope suggest there is an atmosphere.

[01:08.93] But the atmosphere may not be able to support life.

[01:13.98] It could be continuously filled up by gases that large areas of molten rock release.

[01:22.48] Renyu Hu is a planetary scientist with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and California Institute of Technology.

[01:35.23] He was the lead writer of the study, which appeared recently in the publication Nature.

[01:43.47] Hu said, “The atmosphere is likely rich in carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide, but can also have other gases such as water vapor and sulfur dioxide.”

[01:59.67] He added that current observations cannot tell what the exact atmospheric makeup is.

[02:08.70] The Webb data also did not make clear the thickness of the atmosphere.

[02:15.08] Hu said it could be as thick as Earth’s or even thicker than that of Venus.

[02:22.25] Venus has a toxic atmosphere that is the densest in our solar system.

[02:29.15] The planet is called 55 Cancri e. Scientists also call it Janssen.

[02:37.39] It is about 8.8 times more massive than Earth and about two times as wide.

[02:45.09] It orbits its star at one-25th the distance between our solar system’s innermost planet Mercury and the sun.

[02:55.98] As a result, its surface temperature is about 1,725 degrees Celsius.