Astronomers discovered the exoplanet HD 176071 b without using the usual transit method. Instead, they tracked how the light reflected off its day side and night side changed throughout its orbit, since the planet is tidally locked and always shows the same face to its star. This ocean world orbits so close to its star that a full “year” lasts just 14 hours, and extreme tidal forces are dragging it toward a fiery fate: being swallowed by its own star. At 2.5 times Earth’s size but 8.5 times its mass, calculations suggest up to 50% of this planet could be water. It’s literally in hot water both physically and figuratively.…