It seems that the "Hubble" telescope is still able to give us a very strange view of the vast universe around us, as two international research teams were able to use its data recently to discover the existence of two very extreme planets in terms of their climate.
The sky is raining rocks
In a research paper published in the journal Nature on April 7, scientists outlined the features of a new planet called WASP-178b, located at a distance of about 1,300 light-years from our Earth. About 13 thousand trillion kilometers.
According to the new study, this planet has a clear atmosphere like Earth, but it is rich in silicon monoxide.
The researchers indicated - according to an official statement from the US Space and Aviation Agency (NASA) - that this planet has a fixed position in terms of day and night, one of its sides facing its sun permanently, and the other facing the vast cosmic darkness, which means that the planet's atmosphere is in a permanent state of change, The hot air is drawn from the side facing the sun to the night side.
The air moves to the night side at high speeds exceeding 3,000 kilometers per hour, and in this case the silicon monoxide cools enough to condense in the form of rocks falling from the clouds in the form of rain, while on the day side of it, the rocks evaporate from the intensity of the heat.
Two research teams were able to use Hubble data recently to discover two very extreme planets in terms of climate (NASA)
reflective planet
In the second research paper, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, the second research team revealed a very hot Jupiter-like planet, called KELT-20b, located at a distance of about 400 light-years. from Earth.
According to the study, the star of this planet sends strong bursts of ultraviolet radiation to "Kelt 20b", and this leads to its heating to the point that the minerals in its atmosphere gather to form a very strong thermal layer that reflects the star's light.
But the strange thing - according to the study - is that the star that "Kelt 20 b" revolves around is similar to the sun in its composition, which means that the difference that caused it to turn into a super-hot giant is only bursts of violet radiation.
This indicates that the nature of the stars affects to the greatest extent possible the nature of the planets that revolve around them. life or not.
The researchers hope that research of this kind, in addition to its role in studying these distant worlds, will help in achieving a better understanding of the nature of the climate on our planet, and how it could become radicalized in the future.