Blue Alien Planet Has Molten Glass Rain & Unusual Atmosphere, New Observations Show [1]

 

The Huffington Post - 9/03/13, Elizabeth Howell/Space.com

This illustration shows HD 189733b, a huge gas giant that orbits very close to its host star HD 189733. The planet's atmosphere is scorching with a temperature of over 1000 degrees Celsius, and it rains glass, sideways, in howling 7000 kilometer-per-hour winds. Image released July 11, 2013.

 

There's a "blue marble" alien planet just 63 light-years from Earth, but the world is anything but friendly to life. Researchers say the blue color in the atmosphere likely comes from a rain of molten glass.

This super-hot glass rain [2] is just one consequence of the close proximity between the gas giant alien planet HD189733b [3] and its sun. which causes daytime temperatures to soar as high as 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit (930 degrees Celsius), scientists said.

More: HuffingtonPost.com [4]