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posted by mrpg on Friday December 16 2016, @08:41PM   Printer-friendly
from the quick,-stick-a-flag-in-it dept.

Astronomers have detected cloud movement on a Jupiter-like exoplanet. They also suggest that the clouds may be composed of corundum:

Powerful winds sweep sparkling, gem-bright clouds through the upper atmosphere of the huge alien planet HAT-P-7b, a new study suggests. "This is the first detection of weather on a gas giant planet outside the solar system," study lead author David Armstrong, of the University of Warwick in England, said in a statement.

HAT-P-7b, which is about 40 percent larger than Jupiter, lies 1,040 light-years from Earth. The planet completes one lap around its host star every 2.2 days. As a result of this extreme proximity, HAT-P-7b is tidally locked, meaning it always presents the same face to its parent star, just as the moon always shows just one side to Earth.

[...] "These results show that strong winds circle the planet, transporting clouds from the night side to the day side," he said. "The winds change speed dramatically, leading to huge cloud formations building up, then dying away." And those clouds are almost certainly unlike anything here on Earth, the researchers added: Modeling work suggests that HAT-P-7b's clouds are composed at least partially of corundum, the mineral that forms sapphires and rubies.

Variability in the atmosphere of the hot giant planet HAT-P-7 b (open, DOI: 10.1038/s41550-016-0004) (DX)


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  • (Score: 2) by rts008 on Friday December 16 2016, @10:11PM

    by rts008 (3001) on Friday December 16 2016, @10:11PM (#442241)

    It may be lack of caffeine, or lack of knowledge, but I have to respectfully ask: What? I really don't understand, and am curious enough to want to.

    BTW, my intent was to start off a discussion(hopefully on-topic), but have limited knowledge of the subject(but high interest), and seeing no comments for a good while, well...
    I have to say, your reply was unexpected to me, as well as inexplicable to me...cool, I'm hoping to learn something :-)

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 16 2016, @10:14PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 16 2016, @10:14PM (#442244)

    I think "you n'wah" was a gaming reference to follow your own. What is it you're hoping to understand about the article?

  • (Score: 2) by edIII on Friday December 16 2016, @10:46PM

    by edIII (791) on Friday December 16 2016, @10:46PM (#442255)

    It's a lack of coffee causing inadvertent butter fingers on the keyboard. That's what I'm going with until I receive new data....

    --
    Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday December 16 2016, @10:47PM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday December 16 2016, @10:47PM (#442256) Journal

    It's a much older meme than "Stop right there, criminal scum!"

    This should jog your memory:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47HgrBeg1t8 [youtube.com]

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MnhhBoioCI [youtube.com]

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