Scorching Downpour
March 11, 2020
This page isn't available in your language yet, if you'd like to provide a translation please contact us at info@unawe.org

Sometimes, in the Summer months, we like to complain that the weather is too hot. But imagine living on a planet where it was so hot that the daily temperature could melt metal!

The European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope has found an extreme planet whose temperatures can soar to over 2400 degrees Celsius - that’s almost 13 times as hot as our ovens when we bake cookies!

This strange world is known as WASP-76b and it is located about 640 light-years away.

At this scorching temperature, it is hot enough during the day to vaporise metals. Strong winds carry iron vapour to the cooler night side where it then condenses into iron rain. It’s so hot here that molecules separate into atoms, and metals like iron evaporate into the atmosphere. This harsh world also experiences big swings in temperature, which causes very strong winds.

This doesn’t sound like a planet we’d like to visit!

 

mage credit: ESO, M. Kornmesser

ඔබේ දැනුමට

 Over 4100 exoplanets have now been discovered. Astronomers have found almost all of them using clever tricks such as “wobble watching” or using stars as magnifying glasses.

This Space Scoop is based on a Press Release from ESO .
ESO
රූපය
මුද්‍රණ පිටපත

වැඩිදුර තොරතුරු

Space Scoop යනු කුමක්ද?

තාරකා විද්‍යාව ගැන තවදුරටත්

අභ්‍යවකාශ ගවේෂණයේ මීළග පරපුරේ ප්‍රගමනයට

Space Scoop මිතුරෝ

අපව අමතන්න