A MASSIVE planet with clouds jam-packed full of precious rubies and sapphires has been glimpsed in deep space.
Scientists have been watching HAT-P-7b for through the Kepler telescope, after it was spotted twinkling in a peculiar fashion four years ago.And now David Armstrong at the University of Warwick found that the exoplanet’s brightening and dimming is due to its dazzling cloud system.
“When we say clouds, they’re definitely not like clouds on earth,” he explained in science journal Nature.
Unlike the fluffy white vapours we’re used to on Earth, the new Hat-P-7b’s clouds are made from corundum – the same mineral that produces rubies and sapphires on Earth.
And if alien life does exist on the brave new world – some 1,000 lightyears from ours – they’ll definitely need a brolly.-Read More