Science is Fun Fridays!
On the exoplanet WASP-121b, scientists think it might rain liquid sapphires and rubies....
It is incredibly close to its star and runs about 1800 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to melt and vaporize metals, such as barium, which is surprisingly found in the atmosphere.
"The puzzling and counterintuitive part is: why is there such a heavy element in the upper layers?"
"Given the high gravity...we would expect heavy elements like barium to fall into the lower layers of the atmosphere."
We've been studying planets such as this "ultra-hot Jupiter" because they're easier to observe. Being hot and gaseous, their atmospheres are inflated, but apparently we don't understand them as well as we thought.
In case you missed it:
NASA has confirmed the DART mission impact changed the orbit of Dimorphos by 32 minutes.
Focus is now shifting to analysis of the "ejecta" - the pieces of rock launched into space by the impact. The recoil from this blast of debris substantially enhanced DART's push against the asteroid.
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