Giant, scorching-hot alien planet has yellow skies
By Mike Wall 11 hours ago
And iron rain probably falls through them.
Artist's illustration of the super-hot exoplanet WASP-79b, located 780 light-years away. The planet orbits precariously close to a star that is much hotter than our sun. The planet is larger than Jupiter, and its very deep, hazy atmosphere sizzles at 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit — the temperature of molten glass.
(Image: © NASA, ESA and L. Hustak (STScI))
We can now add atmospheric craziness to WASP-79b's already substantial exotic appeal.
The gas-giant exoplanet, which lies about 780 light-years from Earth, circles extremely close to its bright host star, completing one orbit every 3.7 Earth days. That proximity makes WASP-79b scorching hot, with an average temperature around 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,650 degrees Celsius), NASA officials said.
All that heat puffs up WASP-79b substantially, making it one of the largest alien worlds ever observed. Although WASP-79b is just 85% as massive as Jupiter, it's 1.7 times wider than our solar system's biggest planet.
Then there's the alien world's air, which researchers have now probed in considerable detail. Iron rain likely falls through WASP-79b's skies, which probably sport a very alien yellowish hue, a recent study reports. (Yellow on the dayside, that is; like other "hot Jupiters," WASP-79b is likely tidally locked to its host star, always showing it the same face.)
More:
https://www.space.com/giant-hot-alien-planet-wasp-79b-has-yellow-skies.html
