Scientists Discover Hell Planet That's Basically Mustafar from Star Wars

Scientists have discovered a"hell planet" -- an infernal exoplanet covered in oceans of lava and where it rains rocks. Basically, it's Mustafar from Star Wars, the lava planet where Darth Vader lives. Designated K2-141b and located 200 light-years from us, the Earth-sized hellhole is among the most "extreme" exoplanets scientists have found. Lava planets are like this because they orbit so close to their host star. Details on K2-141b were published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Scientists from McGill University, York University, and the Indian Institute of Science Education used computer simulations to predict weather and environmental conditions on K2-141b. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=star-wars-every-new-planet-in-the-disney-movies&captions=true"] The scorching hot planet is blasted by supersonic winds and has a magma ocean that is roughly 62 miles/100 km deep. McGill University also explained that two-thirds of K2-141b faces "perpetual daylight":

"K2-141b belongs to a subset of rocky planets that orbit very close to their star. This proximity keeps the exoplanet gravitationally locked in place, meaning the same side always faces the star. The night side experiences frigid temperatures of below -200 C. The day side of the exoplanet, at an estimated 3000 C, is hot enough to not only melt rocks but vaporize them as well, ultimately creating a thin atmosphere in some areas."

The planet's rock vapor atmosphere means it rains rocks. However, scientists do expect K2-141b's atmosphere and surface to evolve over time. "All rocky planets­, including Earth, started off as molten worlds but then rapidly cooled and solidified. Lava planets give us a rare glimpse at this stage of planetary evolution,” said Professor Nicolas Cowan of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. [caption id="attachment_1673656" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Vader castle concept art from The Empire Strikes Back (Image from The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back)[/caption] In Star Wars, Mustafar was the volcanic world on which Anakin Skywalker was brutally defeated by Obi-Wan Kenobi in a lightsaber duel that left Skywalker horribly burned and maimed and led to his transformation into Darth Vader. In addition to that climactic sequence from Revenge of the Sith, Mustafar also appears in The Rise of Skywalker in the opening sequence featuring Vader's grandson, Kylo Ren. As revealed in Rogue One, Mustafar is where Darth Vader lived in a castle. For more science news, read up on the evidence of a parallel universe where time runs backward, a cosmic cloud that has some people claiming "Galactus is coming!", NASA's discovery of water on the moon, a black widow star that's a source of gamma radiation, the frightening 50-50 chance that we really are living in a simulation, a rogue planet that's flying through the Milky Way, and a study on people abusing sad robots. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/26/star-wars-breaking-down-the-duels-revenge-of-the-sith"]

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