Researchers have confirmed the existence of an alien world, LHS 3844b, where one side is permanently shrouded in darkness while the other basks in eternal sunlight.

This discovery offers compelling evidence of tidal locking, a phenomenon where a planet’s rotation matches its orbit around a star.

Named Kua’kua, this planet is situated so close to its host star that it’s deemed uninhabitable for life as we know it.

However, the finding supports astronomers’ suspicions that tidally locked exoplanets may be prevalent in the Milky Way.

Tidal locking, seen in our Moon’s relationship with Earth, occurs when gravitational forces synchronize a celestial body’s rotation with its orbit.

Close proximity to a star intensifies this effect. While directly observing exoplanets is challenging, scientists inferred Kua’kua’s rotation by analyzing its temperature variations, Science Alert has reported.

Using data from the Spitzer telescope, researchers led by Xintong Lyu of Peking University developed a thermal model to study Kua’kua’s heat distribution.

The planet’s cooler-than-expected temperatures suggest a tidally locked orbit, indicating that it may lack a significant atmosphere.

Further observations are needed to confirm these findings, but they represent a significant step in understanding the prevalence of tidally locked worlds in the universe.

Written by B.C. Begley