Visiting The Exoplanet That Rains Rocks!

Spread across our vast galaxy are strange alien worlds that scientists are seeking out and discovering every day. But the exoplanet named Coro-7b is by far one of the strangest. On Earth we have seen some weird things fall from the sky, from blood coloured rain to tennis ball sized hailstones and even animals. But on Coro-7b it rains magma and rock. This distant alien world is a colossal 489 light years away from Earth in the constellation of Monoceros. So strap in and prepare for hyperspeed as we have a long journey ahead. Astronomers suspect that Coro-7b was originally a giant gas planet which strayed too close to its star, evaporating its atmosphere until only rock was left. Gas giant exoplanets that lose their atmosphere are classified as Thonian planets. However Coro-7b's past is still unknown, meaning that it is still classed as a super earth. But this distant world is a long way from resembling our home, instead it is a planet from hell. Welcome to Coro-7b. This strange exoplanet was the first rocky planet to be discovered outside of our solar system back in February 2009 by the Coro Space Telescope. A year on this nightmarish world only lasts 20.5 hours. It is nearly twice the size of Earth, about 5 times heavier and has a similar density. But as you can see, this alien world is not a planet that humans will be standing on any time in the future as it orbits so close to its star that its surface offers hellish extremes. The exoplanet is tidally locked, which means that the star side of the planet is constantly being scorched, reaching temperatures above 2000 degrees Celsius. But the dark side is fully exposed to the coldness of space, dropping to below minus 200 degrees Celsius. If we were able to stand on its surface, the star side would offer oceans of molten lava, cataclysmic volcanism and the planet's host star dominating the sky as it slowly vaporises the landscape. Whereas the dark side would be in perpetual night time, with mountains, deep valleys and the occasional volcanic eruption that launches molten material into a freezing cold environment, which then cools rapidly and falls back as volcanic snow. But the strangest feature on Coro-7b is that its tenuous atmosphere is made up from vaporised rock. Because of how hot the star side becomes, any known rock would immediately sublimate, changing from a solid to a gas and bypassing any liquid phase. Remarkably, the atmosphere on this hellish world has weather just like we experience back on Earth. But with one major difference, instead of condensing water falling from the sky as rain, the atmosphere on Coro-7b occasionally condenses and falls out of the alien sky as solid pebbles. So I hope you enjoyed your trip to this bizarre world, which surely tops the currently known But where do you want to go next? Maybe to see a star that is being consumed by a black hole? Or what about an exoplanet that rains glass? Let me know in the comments section below and the V101 Explorer will take us there. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.