Gems Could Fall As Rain On Jupiter-Like Exoplanets

According to recent study, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, WASP-121b, a gigantic gas giant circling a star around 855 light-years from Earth, may feature metal clouds and liquid gem showers.

Originally identified in 2015, the exoplanet is classified as an ultrahot Jupiter class planet since it has greater temperatures and mass as well as diameter compared to our solar system’s largest planetary body. Scientists have since obtained more data regarding WASP-121b, showing that the greater the understanding, the more peculiar it appears to be. The extreme gravitational pull generated by the star it orbits causes the exoplanet to harbor a water vapor environment with scorching temperatures and its shape to be elongated, similar to a football.

The extreme weather

The dayside of a Hot Jupiter is known for being very brilliant; however, the night side is a whole different story. The night side of WASP-121b is roughly ten times fainter than the dayside.

Water evaporates on Earth, and its vapor condenses forming clouds, which subsequently rain. Water on WASP-121b follows a more violent cycle.
The scorching heat temperatures generated by the planet on the dayside break apart the water atoms. Winds that exceed well over 11,000 miles per hour carry these atoms to the nightside (17,703 kilometers per hour). There, the molecules recombine to create water before being sent back over to the dayside. These winds are significantly quicker than our jet stream, and they have the potential to sweep clouds around the whole globe in roughly 20 hours.

These metal clouds, like the water vapor that circulates on WASP-121b, may be pushed to the dayside, where the metals evaporate into gases. However, before the clouds depart the nightside, they may drop liquid gem rain.

Temperatures exceed 5,840 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the day (3,227 degrees Celsius). Temperatures in the high atmosphere plummet to 2,240 ℉ (1,227 degrees Celsius) at night.

The James Webb Space Telescope will be used to examine WASP-121b later this year.