Researchers said they've spotted a truly extreme planet beyond our solar system, a blazingly hot world a bit bigger than Neptune that orbits a sun-like star every 19 hours and appears to be wrapped in metallic clouds made of titanium.
WASHINGTON — It is a planet astronomers say probably should not even exist.
It reflects about 80% of incoming light, making it the universe's most reflective object known. Venus, the brightest object in Earth's night sky besides the moon, is our solar system's most reflective object, enrobed in toxic sulfuric acid clouds. Venus reflects about 75% of incoming light. Earth reflects about 30%.
With its star so close, it is a wonder it has any atmosphere, according to the researchers. An atmosphere with water-based clouds, as on Earth, would have been blown away by solar radiation long ago. But they believe its clouds are metallic, a combination of titanium and silicate — the stuff that makes up most of the rocks in Earth's crust.
"The super-reflective cloud cover likely helped stop the planet from warming up too much and being stripped of its atmosphere," Parmentier said. "This is quite unique as all other planets at this temperature that are big enough to keep their atmosphere are too hot to form clouds and are thus as dark as charcoal."
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