Hellish 'super-Earth' Kua'kua is closer to the Moon than our home planet, JWST finds

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has studied a planet that is essentially a rocky planet 48 light-years away. LHS 3844 b was first discovered by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) in 2018. It was revealed to be a tidally locked planet, meaning its one side was always facing its star. It was named Kua'kua, after a Central American Bribri word for "butterfly", and is about 30 per cent bigger than Earth. It completes one orbit of its red dwarf star host named Batsu in 11 hours. Being too close to its star means it is constantly burning at a temperature of 1000 Kelvin. That was all the information scientists had, until now. A team of researchers used the Mid Infrared Instrument (MIRI) on JWST to analyse Kua'kua's surface composition, and found that this planet is actually the complete opposite of Earth, Universe Today reported.

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Scientists from Harvard Center for Astrophysics and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy detected "light coming directly from the surface of this distant rocky planet." Laura Kreidberg said they spotted "a dark, hot, barren rock, devoid of any atmosphere." The team studied the infrared radiation reflecting from the sizzling dayside of the planet to understand more about its surface. They compared the JWST data with the rocks and minerals from Earth, the Moon, and Mars. They were able to deduce what could be producing the infrared signatures seen at Kua'kua.

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Kua'kua is different from Earth's crust

They were sure that Kua'kua's is nothing like Earth’s crust, which is made of silicate-rich rocks such as granite. "Since LHS 3844 b lacks such a silicate crust, one may conclude that Earth-like plate tectonics does not apply to this planet, or it is ineffective,” said PhD student Sebastian Zieba. There is also likely very little water on this planet. The silicate-rich crust found on Earth is the result of tectonic activity, which also uses water, and repeats over several years. No signs of any such activity have been found on Kua'kua. The lack of atmosphere also proves that it has been geologically inactive for a long time.

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Scientists suggest two scenarios for Kua'kua’s surface. Volcanic activity could have covered its surface with dark, solid rock, and this fresh lava has not yet been heavily altered by space environments. In the second scenario, such a dark surface could have been laid down millions of years ago, with harsh space radiation and meteorites darkening the regolith layers. This is similar to the surface of our Moon.