{"id":146826,"date":"2025-11-22T08:55:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T08:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/146826\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T08:55:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T08:55:12","slug":"death-by-a-thousand-cuts-scientists-discover-little-explored-planet-that-rains-shards-of-glass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/146826\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Death by a thousand cuts’: Scientists discover little-explored planet that rains shards of glass"},"content":{"rendered":"

Space is full of weird but wonderful things, from unusual rocks<\/a> on Mars that don\u2019t actually belong there to hidden structures<\/a> and harrowing warnings that the moon is shrinking<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But now, attention has shifted to a far-off planet, 64 million light-years away in the constellation Vulpecula.<\/p>\n

To the human eye, HD 189733 b looks strikingly blue, but the weather on this world is anything but inviting.<\/p>\n

First discovered by French astronomers in 2005, the planet caught further attention when NASA<\/a> scientists used the Spitzer Space Telescope to measure its extreme temperatures. They found that the ‘day side’ facing its star is around 500 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the night side.<\/p>\n

When the Hubble Space Telescope got a closer look, it revealed that the bright blue colour isn\u2019t the result of oceans like on Earth.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/ NASA<\/p>\n

Instead, it\u2019s caused by a 2,000-degree Fahrenheit (1,093 Celsius) atmosphere, which wreaks havoc on its weather.<\/p>\n

Winds howl across the planet at up to 5,400 mph (2 km\/s) (seven times the speed of sound), spinning anything caught in them into a dizzying, deadly vortex.<\/p>\n

And forget about umbrellas: it rains shards of glass, or as NASA puts it, “it\u2019s death by a thousand cuts.”<\/p>\n

“This scorching alien world possibly rains glass\u2014sideways\u2014in its howling winds,” NASA explained<\/a>. “The cobalt blue colour comes not from the reflection of a tropical ocean, as on Earth, but rather a hazy, blow-torched atmosphere containing high clouds laced with silicate particles.”<\/p>\n

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