In 2004, astronomers discovered a new planet, named 55 Cancri e, which is around eight times the size of Earth (AKA a “super-Earth”) and orbits a star about 40 light-years away. This isn’t too far, in cosmic terms, but you might not want to hop on the first colony ship, either. Described as a “hell planet”, the world orbits close to its parent star and appears to be covered in volcanoes, resulting in extreme and volatile conditions on its rocky surface. And we thought life on Earth was getting bad!

Volcanoes aren’t even the most interesting part of 55 Cancri e. Neither is the planet’s abundance of carbon, which is said to take the form of diamonds across much of its surface due to the high pressure and heat. What’s puzzled scientists the most about this hellish world are the strange signals that it’s been emitting ever since they found it two decades ago.

What makes the signals from 55 Cancri e so strange? Well, it’s related to the planet’s 17-hour orbit around its star. Sometimes, when its passes behind the star (this is known as a secondary eclipse) we can measure that the planet emits no visible light, using a process similar to the one that underpins NASA’s hunt for alien life. Other times, though, we can observe a strong visible light signal from 55 Cancri e.

This fluctuation in the visible light (and infrared radiation) emitted by 55 Cancri e shows that conditions on the planet are surprisingly unstable. In fact, one side of the planet has been seen to reach a blazing 2,430 degrees celsius, while the other side is locked in a state of permanent night, reaching just 1,110 degrees celsius (which is still hot enough to melt metals like copper or gold). For a long time, these variations have been a mystery, but a new scientific paper aims to provide answers.

The study proposes that the planet’s enigmatic signals are caused by it growing and burning off its atmosphere, over and over again. It goes on to explain that this could be caused by the eruption of giant volcanoes and thermal vents, which spew hot gases over the planet, creating a temporary atmosphere. This is then burned off again by the intense radiation and solar wind from its parent star, leaving a trail of dust behind in its wake.

This process, say the researchers, isn’t balanced, meaning that the planet goes through phases of atmosphere growth and “baldness”. When it’s bald, no visible light is emitted from its nonexistent atmosphere (though there are still traces of infrared light). When its atmosphere forms again, visible light and the full force of its surface radiation are visible from Earth.

Right now, this is just our best hypothesis to explain the weird signals coming from 55 Cancri e. Like many facets of space, though – like the recently-discovered free-floating planets that “shouldn’t exist” – the James Webb Space Telescope could help shed more light on the situation. In upcoming observations, the telescope will provide cutting-edge measurements of the temperature on its surface and in its atmosphere, as well as the surface pressure. Then, scientists can hopefully decode what the hell planet is trying to tell us, once and for all.

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