NASA Discovers Young Earth-Sized Exoplanet with Lava Hemisphere

The tidally locked planet, HD 63433 d, experiences extreme temperatures due to its close proximity to its star, resulting in one side being covered in lava.

• NASA's TESS has discovered an Earth-sized exoplanet, HD 63433 d, with an extreme climate where one half of the planet is covered in lava due to its close proximity to its star.
• The planet is tidally locked, meaning one side always faces its star while the other half always faces out into space, creating a huge difference in temperatures between the planet’s two faces.
• HD 63433 d completes an orbit of its star in just 4.2 days, making it eight times closer to its star than Mercury is to the sun, resulting in tremendously high surface temperatures that can reach up to 2,294 degrees Fahrenheit (1,257 degrees Celsius) on the side facing the star.
• The planet is located in a system that is around 10 times younger than our solar system, with the planet itself being only 400 million years old.
• The system also has two other planets, HD 63433 b and c, which are both larger and orbit slightly further out.

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