Clouds of rubies and sapphires seen swirling around distant planet

A planet located more than 1,000 light years away may have clouds made from the raw material of rubies and sapphires, say scientists.


If corundum clouds do exist on the planet, a gas giant 16 times larger than Earth, they would be "visually stunning", astronomers believe.

Corundum is a rock-forming mineral that comes in a range of colours including the red and blue of rubies and sapphires, the two gem stones it is famous for forming.

In addition, traces of powerful winds have been detected on the planet, HAT-P-7b. It is the first time weather patterns have been studied on a gas giant outside the solar system.
Large-scale changes to the strong winds were likely to lead to "catastrophic storms", said the scientists.
Signs of the turbulence were revealed in light reflected from the planet's atmosphere observed by the Kepler space telescope.

Lead researcher Dr David Armstrong, from the University of Warwick, said: "Using the Nasa Kepler satellite, we were able to study light reflected from HAT-P-7b's atmosphere, finding that the atmosphere was changing over time.
"HAT-P-7b is a tidally locked planet, with the same side always facing its star. We expect clouds to form on the cold night side of the planet, but they would evaporate quickly on the hot day side.

"These results show that strong winds circle the planet, transporting clouds from the night side to the day side. The winds change speed dramatically, leading to huge cloud formations building up then dying away. This is the first detection of weather on a gas giant planet outside the solar system."
Temperatures on the side of the planet that always faces its star could be as high as 2,860 Kelvin (2586.85C) say the scientists.

The research is published in the first issue of the new journal Nature Astronomy.