Cloudy With A Chance For Glass Showers

This is HD 189733b, which is the latest planet to be spied by the Hubble Space Telescope. It is like many planets except for one fascinating feature: it’s blue.

The problem is that the Jupiter-sized planet is too close to its star to have liquid water. It orbits its star at a close range every 2.2 days just 63 light-years away in the constellation Vulpecula (the Fox).

Scientists believe the blue light is caused by clouds of liquid glass — a reflection by silicate clouds and absorption by sodium atoms. Probably not ideal for a picnic but it is still better than raining molten lead over on Corot 7b.