This Exoplanet Is So Hot That It Rains Liquid Iron
An exoplanet located around 900 light-years away from us is known for its extreme conditions. It’s so hot that it rains droplets of liquid iron. Now, researchers have identified the presence of powerful iron winds on the exoplanet WASP-121 b.
It is the first time that astronomers have been able to study the atmosphere of a planet outside of our solar system in such detail.
The WASP-121 b winds were discovered using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in the Atacama Desert region in northern Chile. They carry elements like iron and titanium around the planet, creating complex weather patterns.
“This planet’s atmosphere behaves in ways that challenge our understanding of how weather works—not just on Earth, but on all planets,” said Julia Victoria Seidel, a researcher and team leader of the study. “It feels like something out of science fiction.”
WASP-121 b is an ultra-hot Jupiter, which is a gas giant planet that is roughly 1.2 times the mass of the actual planet of Jupiter. WASP-121 b orbits in such close proximity to its star that a year lasts only 30 Earth hours.
As a result, the exoplanet is “tidally locked,” meaning one side of the world is exposed to the star permanently, so it is scorching hot.
The other side faces space and is much cooler. On the hot side, iron and other metals are vaporized and blown across the planet to the cool side, where they condense and fall as liquid metal rain.
The researchers created a 3D map of the exoplanet’s atmosphere and found that there were different winds within different layers of the world. In addition, they observed a jet stream stretching across half of the planet.
As the jet stream picked up speed, it violently churned the atmosphere high into the sky, crossing the line dividing both sides of the planet and moving toward the hotter half.
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“What we found was surprising: a jet stream rotates material around the planet’s equator, while a separate flow at lower levels of the atmosphere moves gas from the hot side to the cooler side,” said Seidel.
“This kind of climate has never been seen before on any planet. Even the strongest hurricanes in the solar system seem calm in comparison.”
The VLT instrument ESPRESSO was used to map WASP-121 b’s atmosphere. The VLT combines light from several telescopes and analyzes the light thoroughly, which allows it to see more detail.
With the help of the VLT, the researchers monitored the movement of iron, sodium, and hydrogen. The elements helped them track winds in the deep, middle, and shallow layers of WASP-121 b’s atmosphere. Just below the jet stream, they found titanium.
In the past, this element had never been detected during observations. It may have been because the titanium was hidden deep in the atmosphere.
The research was published in the journal Nature.
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