NASA telescope made terrifying planet discovery where it rains glass at 4,300 miles per hour
A planet that looks eerily similar to our own would instantly destroy anyone who attempted to step foot on it.
Named HD 189733 b, the exoplanet was first discovered in space by French astronomers in 2005. It's located 64 million light-years away in the constellation Vulpecula.
Some 2.9 million miles from its parent star, named HD 189733, the planet is so close that it's 'gravitationally tidally locked,' NASA explains, meaning 'one side always faces the star and the other is always dark.'
This has allowed scientists to study it more closely than other planets. A gas giant type, known as a 'hot Jupiter,' has a radius measuring approximately 12.76 times that of Earth.
Advert
And while the planet looks similar to our own, it's actually home to some extreme and treacherous conditions.
In 2007, NASA used the Spitzer Space Telescope to check out how hot the HD 189733 b is, using infrared light.
What they found was pretty wild: the planet’s 'day side' facing its star is about 500 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the night side.
Because of that massive temperature difference, scientists believe huge winds race around the planet, trying to even things out - kind of like how wind on Earth moves from hot to cold areas, just way more extreme.
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope then measured the actual visible-light color of the planet, which is deep blue.
Turns out, it doesn't get its brilliant blue color from oceans like we do.
Its color is actually caused by the effects of a 2,000 degree Fahrenheit (1,093 Celsius) atmosphere where rock-forming silicate particles melt to make 'raindrops' of glass that scatter blue light.
They also rain down sideways, too.
Together with the wind speeds of up to 5,400 mph (2 km/s) at seven times the speed of sound, it creates a deadly storm no mere mortal would survive.
Even robotic probes would require exceptional shielding and advanced engineering to withstand the extreme environment.
Reacting to the idea a violent glass rain storm on social media, one Instagram user quipped: "A strong brolly needed then?"
A second wrote: "Let me know when they find one that rains money," as a third pondered: "I wonder if this is what God does when he is bored."
While it's not a candidate for life - or robots - HD 189733 b is a prime target for atmospheric studies.
One of the first exoplanets to have its atmosphere directly analyzed, researchers detected water vapor, methane and carbon monoxide, helping them understand more about how distant worlds are made up.
Ellie Kemp