After a successful journey covering about 1,500,000 km from Earth, the $10 billion James Webb Telescope is weeks away from full operation. The telescope was launched in December 2021, and it has now completed the alignment of its 18 hexagonal, gold-plated mirrors. With its instruments aligned, the Webb telescope awaits a final instrument calibration before it begins studying distant stars in a few weeks.

NASA is racking up a list of exciting interstellar targets for the Webb telescope. As the first assignment, the Webb telescope will work on investigating the two extremely hot exoplanets lava-filled 55 Cancri e and airless LHS 3844 b that are classified as “Super-Earths” (means they are larger than the Earth but smaller than Neptune).

Is it possible for a rocky planet to be so hot that the surface is molten and the clouds rain lava?