A Blue Planet with Molten Glass Rain and Supersonic Winds
Planetresize
Friday's Geo Quiz brings us far from home: 63 light years away.
David Bowie might have wondered, "Is there life on Mars?" But we know for sure, there's molten glass raining from the skies on HD 189733b.
It's a giant, hot, blue planet there with some extreme weather that scientists were able to visually observe this week, a first for researchers, who usually learn about planet's atmospheres through spectroscopy and observing gravitational fluctuations by the stars.
The nickname we're looking for is Hot Jupiter.
Dr. Frederic Pont, the leader of the research team who spied the stellar storms, shares his findings for this sort of massive, gaseous, close-orbiting planet.
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