If you’re looking for an ideal holiday destination, one thing’s for sure: you are not going to be choosing WASP-79b. As curious as this huge, hot exoplanet has proven to be ever since its discovery by Dr. Barry Smalley of Keele University, UK, in 2012, anyone deciding to lay on their deckchair and look skywards is going to be in for something of a surprise.
Here on Earth, the sky is a glorious blue, and that’s because the white light from the Sun – which is made up of all the colors of the rainbow – enters the atmosphere, bounces off small particles, and causes the shorter blue and violet wavelengths to become separated from the longer red, yellow and green. As the violet light is mainly absorbed by the upper atmosphere, it leaves the blue waves to be dispersed.
“This is called Rayleigh scattering, and it’s the primary effect that makes Earth’s sky look blue,” says Kristin Showalter Sotzen of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. “If WASP-79b had Rayleigh scattering, its sky would also have more of these shorter, bluer wavelengths, and so it would appear to have a blue or blue-green hue, depending on what the particles are actually made of.” And yet it doesn’t. Instead, observations suggest that WASP-79b has a total absence of this effect, which means the blue light is able to join the others in making its way through the atmosphere without any obstruction.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MYSTERIES OF THE UNI WHERE ARE ALL THE SPIRAL GALAXIES?
There are far fewer spiral galaxies than elliptical ones in the Supergalactic Plane, and scientists are keen to discover why
ZOMBIE STARS
+10 OTHER TERRIFYING SPACE OBJECTS
HOW TO BEAT LIGHT POLLUTION
Thought it was impossible to observe the wonders of the night sky from towns and cities? Think again. Follow our tips and tricks on successfully observing through sky glow
15 STUNNING STAR CLUSTERS
These beautiful stellar groupings are spattered across the cosmos
Eileen Collins "It was a difficult mission...we were the first to see Mir"
Having served as both the first female pilot and first female commander of NASA's Space Shuttle, Collins boosted the involvement of women in space exploration to a whole new level
MARS LEAKS FASTER WHEN IT'S CLOSER TO THE SUN
The Red Planet has lost enough water to space to form a global ocean hundreds of kilometres deep
FUTURE TECH KANKOH-MARU
This ambitious reusable spacecraft will be capable of taking 50 people to and from orbit
THE FINAL FRONTIER
Beyond the reach of the Sun is a fascinating region of the cosmos that were only just beginning to explore
A long-lost moon could explain Mars' weird shape and extreme terrain
A long-lost moon could explain why Mars is so different from the other rocky planets in the Solar System. Today Mars has two tiny moons.
A sprinkling of cosmic dust may have helped kick-start life on Earth
Cosmic dust may have helped kick-start life on Earth. New findings challenge a widely held assumption that this wasn't a plausible explanation.