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True colour of exoplanet found
Press Association – Thu, Jul 11, 2013
A dazzling blue planet 63 light years away bears a striking resemblance to Earth, scientists have learned - but appearances can be deceptive.
Like the Earth, the alien world known as HD 189733b would be a brilliant cobalt blue if seen from a short distance away in space.
Unlike Earth, however, the planet has no blue oceans and the chances of any form of life surviving on its surface are remote.
Conditions on HD 189733b are hellish. Temperatures are a scorching 1000C, winds howl at more than 4,000 mph, and it rains slivers of silicate glass.
The planet is a gas giant orbiting very close to its parent star. Scientists were able to calculate its colour by measuring the light reflected from its surface.
It is the first time astronomers have determined the true colour of an exoplanet orbiting a star beyond the sun.
"This planet has been studied well in the past, both by ourselves and other teams," said Professor Frederic Pont, from the University of Exeter, who led the international Hubble Space Telescope team. "But measuring its colour is a real first - we can actually imagine what this planet would look like if we were able to look at it directly."
To isolate the planet's light, the astronomers conducted observations before, during and after the orbiting planet passed behind its parent star.
As it slipped behind the star, light reflected from the planet was temporarily blocked out. The total amount of light coming from the star system fell slightly as a result. Identifying the wavelengths of the missing light revealed the planet's likely colour.
The findings appear in the August 1 issue of the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters.
