Newly Discovered Planet Rains Glass Sideways

Not only does it rain glass sideways, but it flings this glass at speeds up to 7,000km/hr... In temperatures in excess of 1,000 degrees C. The image of said planet is truly beautiful - and it's the first exoplanet that NASA has been able to capture in color. In my opinion, it trumps anything within our own solar system, aesthetically speaking. I've always been a sucker for blue though. And gas giants. But enough about personal opinion, let's bite into the meat of this story, shall we...?

The world, known as HD189733b, has a deep azure hue - probably the result of silicate (glass) rain in the atmosphere, which scatters blue light.

Although it might resemble Earth from a distance, HD189733b is a huge gas giant which orbits close to its host star. The temperature of the planet's atmosphere is a scorching 1,000C, and it rains glass, sideways, in howling 7,000km-per-hour winds.

The exoplanet's azure colour does not come from the reflection of an ocean, say the researchers, but is probably due to the hazy, turbulent atmosphere being laced with silicate particles - which scatter blue light.

it belongs to a class of planets known as "hot Jupiters". These massive planets are similar in size to the gas giants in our Solar System, but instead lie very close to their parent stars.

BBC

How exactly do they know any of this?

The are THEORIZING that this planets surface is what they say.

I don't see how they can know anything for sure.

I dont know much about this stuff but I have a question.
If its a giant Gas planet, why would silicates be flying about? I'm assuming silicates are solid?

Looks like a crystalline diamond planet. Its very interesting and beautiful and what its hiding is what we can't see or experience, carbon turned to diamond, it could even be peopled for that matter. Not everything is carbon, but we wouldn't be able to tell. We'd see it one way from our plane, and it could be another from theirs.

Also it appears to be a jupiter type gas planet, so maybe a dwarf planet or failed dwarf star.

A thread about this planet already exists here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

It is extremely cool to be able to see a planet with that much detail from so far away. that is amazing! that means it wont be long until we can find another one and another one, and then hopefully something with some life on it!

Originally posted by mwood
How exactly do they know any of this?

The are THEORIZING that this planets surface is what they say.

I don't see how they can know anything for sure.

In science, you can never know anything with 100% certainty. There are only hypotheses (educated guesses) and theories (working models supported by evidence).

The colour of this planet was deduced from the way the star's light spectrum changes when the planet goes behind it. There is a decrease in the blue part of the spectrum when this happens, so it's been deduced that the extra blue light belongs to the planet.

Originally posted by VoidHawk
I dont know much about this stuff but I have a question.
If its a giant Gas planet, why would silicates be flying about? I'm assuming silicates are solid?

Gas giants have a solid core surrounded by a liquid layer, and there are transitional zones too. In any case, if you heat solids enough, they melt, and if you heat them even more, they vapourise.

This has to be just an artists rendering and not an actual photo. The way they find these planets is watching stars blink.

It is extremely cool to be able to see a planet with that much detail from so far away. that is amazing!

That is an artist's impression of what the planet may look like, not a photo. The Hubble Space Telescope is an impressive piece of kit, but it isn't THAT impressive!

Originally posted by mwood
How exactly do they know any of this?

The are THEORIZING that this planets surface is what they say.

I don't see how they can know anything for sure.

Yes and no. The color they know. The admit the reason (glass rain) is a guess, and then explain why they think it's that. They know the temperature, they know the size, and they know how close to it's sun it is.

Originally posted by Latrodectus
It is extremely cool to be able to see a planet with that much detail from so far away. that is amazing! that means it wont be long until we can find another one and another one, and then hopefully something with some life on it!

I do hope you and others understand that the picture in the OP and other articles on this: IS AN ARTISTS IMPRESSION.

This is NOT a photograph or other actual image of the planet.