Wasp-76b, a planet where it rains liquid iron

3D ModelNoAI

The model is an artist’s view of the atmosphere of WASP-76b, an ultrahot giant extrasolar planet about twice the size of Jupiter which orbits very close to its star, WASP-76 (a class F7 star), at a distance which is almost double the size of the Sun. As in the case of our moon, WASP-76b always shows the same face to its star because it rotates exactly once every time it orbits around its star (its rate of spin is synchronized with its rate of revolution). Scientists recently discovered that the face of the planet facing the star reaches temperatures so high that the iron is vaporized. As a result, when iron vapor is transported to the cooler side of the planet due to strong winds, it condenses in the atmosphere producing liquid iron rain. The scene describes this new and unexpected phenomenon.

Credits: INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo. Reference: Ehrenreich et al. 2020, Nature.