Space exploration has expanded what we understand as fantastic in relation to the found celestial bodies.

Orbiting a star in the distant solar system, astronomers have discovered a planet that not only has reflective properties, but is also covered in liquid metal.

LTT9779b, metal rain planet

Reality has revised and confirmed much of what we could guess or consider science fiction. Imagine an entire planet covered in liquid metal. ABOUT LTT9779b this is practically an anomaly, according to the scientists themselves, but it exists.

According to astronomers, this exoplanet is considered the most reflective outside of our solar system. ESA, European Space Agencywho were responsible for the discovery. It lies 270 light-years from planet Earth and has been seen before thanks to the Cheios telescope operated by ESA researchers.

LTT9779b is a mirror exoplanet capable of reflecting about 80% of the light falling on it thanks to its parent star. In this respect, it can be compared with Venus. Due to its proximity to the star, its return around it lasts only 18 hours and represents an environment in which life cannot coexist with high temperatures that can exceed 200 degrees Celsius.

This exoplanet, first spotted in 2020, has raised many questions from researchers, and only recently have some of these questions been answered. Due to high temperatures, there should be no clouds on the planet, but they are and are responsible for the rain of liquid metals. These clouds are made up of silicate and titanium, leading scientists to “realized that they should think of this cloud formation in the same way as the condensation that forms in the bathroom after a hot shower“, the researcher said in a statement. Observatory of the Cote d’Azur from France, Vivienne Parmentier, who is also a co-author of the study. “Like steam from hot water in a bathroom, the scalding stream supersaturates LTT9779b’s atmosphere until metallic clouds form.“.

And as I said above, the researchers themselves find the existence of an exoplanet under these conditions as an isolated case. Its location is known as the “Desert of Neptune”, a place that should not support an exoplanet with its mass five times that of Earth. As a rule, in such a short orbit, we see only gaseous or rocky planets, proportionally 10 times the size of our planet or half of our planet, respectively.

“This is a planet that shouldn’t exist. We expect the atmosphere of planets such as this to be torn apart by their star, leaving bare rock in its wake.“, Parmentier said. But due to its reflective nature, caused by metallic rains, its atmosphere ultimately prevents the planet from suffering from these conditions.

More research will be done to learn about the unique conditions that support the existence of LTT9979b.

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Via: Olhar Digital Source: ESA

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