Weird Exoplanets
This is the text version of the interactive 3D documentary. 한국어
All exoplanets › Part 3: Storms and darkness
HD 189733 b
A blue planet where glass rain flies sideways
View in 3D · narrated- Distance
- 64 light-years (about 610 trillion km, 64 years at light speed)
- Type
- Hot Jupiter (gas planet)
- Size
- About 1.1 times Jupiter’s width
- Star
- HD 189733 (a little smaller and cooler than the Sun)
- Year (orbit)
- About 2.2 days
- Temperature
- About 1,000 °C
- Found
- 2005
A blue planet 64 light-years away
HD 189733 b is about 64 light-years away, toward the constellation Vulpecula. Light that leaves this star tonight will reach Earth 64 years from now. It was found in 2005, when the starlight dimmed slightly as the planet passed in front of its star.
View this scene in 3D →Glass rain that flies sideways
Seen from far away, this planet is a deep blue. That isn’t the color of an ocean, but blue light scattered by tiny grains of glass floating in its air. The wind blows at about 8,700 km per hour. So the glass doesn’t fall down; it flies sideways.
Why?Glass is made by melting silicate, the stuff in sand. This planet’s air is about 1,000 °C, so silicate can float around like a gas and then clump into tiny grains.
Learn moreThat wind is about seven times the speed of sound. The blue color was measured in 2013 by the Hubble Space Telescope, which checked how much light dropped when the planet slipped behind its star. In 2024 the James Webb Space Telescope also found hydrogen sulfide in the air, the gas that makes rotten eggs smell.
View this scene in 3D →Sources: Wikipedia: HD 189733 b
Distances and facts come from published research and NASA, as noted under each planet. The 3D close-ups are artist’s views based on that research, not photographs. Distances to faraway stars can carry some uncertainty.