The researchers studied the planet using the European Space Agency’s CHEOPS orbiting telescope. “We even think that the clouds could condense into droplets, and have titanium rain falling in parts of the atmosphere,” said Prof Jenkins, of Diego Portales University and the Centre for Excellence in Astrophysics and Associated Technologies (CATA) in Chile. Researchers believe its clouds are metallic, a combination of titanium and silicate – which make up most of the rocks in Earth’s crust.
With blistering solar radiation from its star, LTT9779b’s surface temperature is about 1,800C, hotter than molten lava.Īn atmosphere with water-based clouds, as on Earth, would have been blown away by solar radiation long ago.
Venus reflects about 75 per cent of incoming light. Venus, the brightest object in Earth’s night sky besides the moon, is our solar system’s most reflective natural object, enveloped in toxic clouds of sulphuric acid. It is 60 times closer to its star than Earth is to the sun. The planet’s diameter is about 4.7 times greater than Earth’s and it orbits its star at a much closer distance than Mercury, our solar system’s innermost planet, does our sun. “It’s a giant mirror in space,” said Prof James Jenkins, an astronomer and co-author of the research, published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. Located in our Milky Way galaxy, it is around 264 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Sculptor and reflects around 80 per cent of incoming light, making it the universe’s most reflective natural object. Named LTT9779b, it orbits a sun-like star every 19 hours and appears to be wreathed in metallic clouds made of titanium and silicates. A planet so reflective it is a “giant mirror in space” has been discovered by astronomers.
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