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There's an Earth-like Planet With an Atmosphere Just 39 Light-years Away (washingtonpost.com)
Artem Tashkinov quotes a report from Washington Post: There are a lot of good reasons to be captivated by the exoplanet GJ 1132b. Located in the constellation Vela, it's a mere 39 light-years from Earth -- just a hop, skip and a jump in galactic terms. It's similar to Earth in terms of size and mass, and it dances in a close-in orbit around its star, a dimly burning red dwarf. And, astronomers recently discovered, it has an atmosphere. The finding, published in the Astronomical Journal, is the first detection of an atmosphere around a terrestrial "Earth-like" planet orbiting a red dwarf star -- and it suggests there could be millions more. Although the researchers call the planet "Earth-like," the term is only applicable in its broadest sense. GJ 1132b is so close to its sun that it more likely resembles Venus than Earth. Astronomers estimate its average temperature to be about 700 degrees Fahrenheit, and that's without taking into account the potential greenhouse effect of its atmosphere. It is also probably tidally locked, meaning that gravity keeps one side of the planet constantly facing the star, while the other is cast in permanent shadow. GJ 1132b would not make a cozy home for life -- at least, not life as we know it.
If it has a Venus-like atmosphere, which seems likely that close to its star, the thick atmosphere might do a good job of diffusing, trapping, and spreading the heat around the planet. IIRC, despite it's nearly year-long day, Venus has a fairly uniform temperature all over the globe.
You don't have to invoke any sci-fi; instead just look at our own solar system. Mercury is tidally locked and has surface temperatures of 800F/430C on the day side, and -280F/-170C on the night side. Where do you think they got the idea from?
Mercury is not tidally locked to the Sun. Mercury's rotates exactly three times for every two times it revolves around the Sun.