Hubble telescope spots blue planet where it rains glass

BBC News: The world, known as HD189733b, has a deep azure hue – probably the result of silicate (glass) rain in the atmosphere, which scatters blue light.

The temperature of the planet’s atmosphere is a scorching 1,000C, and it rains glass, sideways, in howling 7,000km-per-hour winds.

Its atmosphere has been found to be dramatically changeable and exotic, with hazes and violent bursts of evaporation.

Details of the discovery, made with the Hubble Space Telescope, are to appear in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Photo: HD189733b, artist’s impression (NASA/ESA/M Kornmesser)