Pingie: HTTP:: Exoplanet Has Peculiar Atmosphere

HTTP:: Exoplanet Has Peculiar Atmosphere
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According to a new computer simulation of the conditions on the remote exoplanet COROT-7b, it may be that its atmosphere has nothing in common with our own. While we may be accustomed to rain, clouds, winds, fog and snow, we would have a very hard time finding these phenomena on another planet. COROT-7b was discovered early last year, in February, by the CoRoT space observatory, managed by the French and European space agencies (ESA). The models show that rain may exist in the planet's atmosphere, albeit not made out of water, but of small pebbles. Because the celestial body is located very close to its parent star, it is tidally locked with it. This means that it always has the same face pointed at it, regardless of its orbital position. For the sake of perspective, the Moon is also tidally locked with our planet. We always see the same face of the satellite, while another one remains perpetually obscured. In the case of COROT-7b, the face pointing towards the star is ex!
tremely hot, and this creates peculiar phenomena in the atmosphere, including the pebble rain. The mechanisms that lead to the formation of these structures are actually fairly straightforward, astrophysicists and planetary scientists say. The atmosphere itself contains the main ingredients that form rocks, and, when subjected to an incoming front...
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http://news.softpedia.com/news/Exoplanet-Has-Peculiar-Atmosphere-123123.shtml
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