New Delhi, India
Researchers have spotted an exoplanet WASP-76b which has bizarre environmental conditions and is one of the most extreme planets with a dayside temperature of more than 2,000 degrees.
A team of researchers have observed that the planet is tidally locked to its host star because of which intense winds have been encircling the planet.
What is more astonishing is the discovery of iron atoms in high quantities in the atmosphere that stream from the lower to upper layers across the atmosphere.
The exoplanets are known to exist beyond our Solar System and orbit around other stars.
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The first exoplanet was discovered in the 1990s and since then, more than 5,200 such planets have been spotted.
Many of these exoplanets are gas giants like Saturn or Jupiter while others are Earth-like planets with a rocky surface and no habitability.
As scientists develop more advanced telescopes and detection techniques, the detection level of the exoplanets will increase and the ability to explore the alien worlds will expand.
How iron-filled wind on the exoplanet causes iron rain?
The exoplanet WASP-76b has been at the centre of the attention of all astronomers because of its hellish behaviour.
The exoplanet is an ultra-hot gas giant and is 640 lightyears away from Earth. It is placed in the direction of the constellation Pisces and was spotted in 2013.
The planet has an orbit which is very close to its host star and is able to complete one orbit in 1.8 Earth days.
Because of its proximity to the star, the daytime temperatures are more than 2,000 degrees.
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According to the researchers, the intense heat has been vaporising the iron which later condenses into liquid when temperature drops and falls back on the surface as iron rain.
A team of astronomers, some of whom were from the University of Geneva, announced their findings in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. Scientists have observed intense iron winds in the atmosphere of WASP-76b.
Astronomers have been studying this planet since it was discovered to understand the mechanisms of this ultra-hot Jupiter world's atmosphere.
This alien world has always appeared very fascinating a rainbow was also detected on the planet last April.
Scientists have been observing its daytime side using the ESPRESSO spectrograph which was installed on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope.
(With inputs from agencies)