Giant, scorching-hot alien planet has yellow skies

We can now add atmospheric craziness to WASP-79b's already substantial exotic appeal.

The gas-giant exoplanet, which lies about 780 light-years from Earth, circles extremely close to its bright host star, completing one orbit every 3.7 Earth days. That proximity makes WASP-79b scorching hot, with an average temperature around 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,650 degrees Celsius), NASA officials said.

All that heat puffs up WASP-79b substantially, making it one of the largest alien worlds ever observed. Although WASP-79b is just 85% as massive as Jupiter, it's 1.7 times wider than our solar system's biggest planet.

Continued...
Source

(Image: NASA, ESA and L. Hustak (STScI))

Artist's illustration of the super-hot exoplanet WASP-79b, located 780 light-years away. The planet orbits precariously close to a star that is much hotter than our sun.

The planet is larger than Jupiter, and its very deep, hazy atmosphere sizzles at 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit — the temperature of molten glass.

Source / Image Courtesy

You won't find blue skies on the ultra-hot exoplanet WASP-79b... turns out, they're yellow! And researchers aren't sure why.