Iron rain on the planet 'hell' 640 Earth light years

The team used the ESO's Very Large Telescope from the Southern European Observatory (ESO) to observe this strange planet, which has an extremely large temperature difference between day and night. . On a closer look, they also classify this planet as one of the most extreme planets in the universe.

Located 640 light-years from Earth, WASP-76b revolves around its host star, which has a surface temperature similar to that of the Sun. The orbit of WASP-76b is similar to the Moon's orbit to the Earth, when half of the hemisphere faces the star, while the other half is permanently engulfed in darkness. This is called the 'tide lock' phenomenon.

Iron rain on the planet 'hell' 640 Earth light years Picture 1

One side of the WASP-76b always faces the host star directly

According to astronomers, the normal temperature at the WASP-76b daytime surface can exceed 2,400 degrees Celsius, the heat level is hot enough to vaporize metals. Meanwhile, the night side is cooler, at 1,462 degrees. It is this temperature difference that leads to a strange phenomenon.

In the daytime, WASP-76b receives radiation thousands of times more from its parent star than the Earth and the Sun. Extremely high temperatures caused violent winds that carried burnt iron fumes from the daytime to the night side. At lower temperatures, they condense into droplets of liquid metal, and fall to form metallic showers.

Iron rain on the planet 'hell' 640 Earth light years Picture 2

Intense gusts of burnt iron vapor flew from the daytime to the night side, creating an iron rain phenomenon

Observations show that iron vapor is abundant in the atmosphere of WASP-76b. Therefore, iron rain takes place on this planet is also very popular.

"The atmosphere is so rich in iron that the rains here are also iron," said astronomer David Ehrenreich from the University of Geneva, Switzerland.

Refer to CBS News