Scientists learning more about extremely-hot exoplanet '55 Cancri e' with help of new NASA telescope

With the help of NASA's new James Webb Space Telescope, scientists are learning more about exoplanet "55 Cancri e," which is about 41 light years away from Earth -- and it's a scorcher.

The super-Earth orbits a star called Copernicus, which is 1/25th the distance mega-hot planet Mercury is from our sun.
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Just how steamy is it? We're talking about a surface covered in oceans of lava.

The side of the planet that faces its sun has temperatures around 3,100 degrees Fahrenheit -- hot enough to melt iron.

Conditions on the hot side of the exoplanet are so extreme that it may have caused the atmosphere to completely evaporate, according to researchers.
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"55 Cancri e" was discovered in 2011, and has since been extensively studied by NASA researchers and others.

To learn more about "55 Cancri e," click here.