Posted on Nov 15, 2023
Clouds made of sand make for a strange kind of rain on this hot planet
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https://www.npr.org/2023/11/15/ [login to see] /clouds-made-of-sand-make-for-a-strange-kind-of-rain-on-this-hot-planet
A faraway gas giant planet that's famous for being strangely "puffy" appears to have clouds that are made of tiny bits of sand.
The sand likely acts as water does on Earth, falling like rain towards the planet's hotter interior and then evaporating back up to form clouds once more, according to a new report published online by the journal Nature.
The discovery showcases one of the many kinds of bizarre clouds that scientists say probably exist out beyond our solar system.
Even though astronomers theoretically knew that clouds could form out of substances like rock or metal or salt, "now here we can actually look at it," says Laura Kreidberg, an astronomer at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany who studies atmospheres of distant planets but was not part of this research team.
A faraway gas giant planet that's famous for being strangely "puffy" appears to have clouds that are made of tiny bits of sand.
The sand likely acts as water does on Earth, falling like rain towards the planet's hotter interior and then evaporating back up to form clouds once more, according to a new report published online by the journal Nature.
The discovery showcases one of the many kinds of bizarre clouds that scientists say probably exist out beyond our solar system.
Even though astronomers theoretically knew that clouds could form out of substances like rock or metal or salt, "now here we can actually look at it," says Laura Kreidberg, an astronomer at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany who studies atmospheres of distant planets but was not part of this research team.
Clouds made of sand make for a strange kind of rain on this hot planet
Posted from npr.org
Space
Astronomy
Germany
Research
Posted 7 mo ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."In the past, researchers have taken what they know about chemical elements and made predictions about what kinds of peculiar clouds might exist on distant planets. But these were just educated guesses.
With JWST’s direct detection of sand clouds on WASP-107b, says Kreidberg, “we know for sure they’re there.”
This could be just the beginning of a bevy of otherworldly cloud discoveries. Astronomers pondering one far-off planet, for example, suggested that it might have clouds made of liquid metal and rain made of rubies and sapphires.
“They are lacking any observational confirmation on the cloud composition,” says Decin, but that’s another hot planet that researchers want to study with JWST, to see if precious gems could really fall like rain."
..."In the past, researchers have taken what they know about chemical elements and made predictions about what kinds of peculiar clouds might exist on distant planets. But these were just educated guesses.
With JWST’s direct detection of sand clouds on WASP-107b, says Kreidberg, “we know for sure they’re there.”
This could be just the beginning of a bevy of otherworldly cloud discoveries. Astronomers pondering one far-off planet, for example, suggested that it might have clouds made of liquid metal and rain made of rubies and sapphires.
“They are lacking any observational confirmation on the cloud composition,” says Decin, but that’s another hot planet that researchers want to study with JWST, to see if precious gems could really fall like rain."
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Wondering if it is a new planet of solar system. Might provide some interesting insights about material at the core of huge gas giants . . . sulfur dioxide and silicate suggests volcanism, so perhaps a magma core, though not huge if the planet is low density. Interesting to wonder . . .
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