After years of searching, astronomers have finally detected an atmosphere on a rocky planet around another star.
But what a strange planet it is! 55 Cancri e seems to be blanketed in carbon dioxide gas bubbling out of a global ocean of lava. Like an image out of Dante's Inferno.
One of the great frustrations in the search for life in the universe: It's much easier to study extreme, hellish planets (huge, hot, etc) than to study the moderate worlds where life could plausibly exist.
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