Alien Weather: Nightmares in Motion

Far beyond our Solar System, some exoplanets don’t just have strange skies—they

have nightmares in motion. On a scorched world called HD 189733 b,

winds can roar at thousands of kilometers per hour, whipping silicate particles into storms

so violent that it may literally rain glass sideways. Then there’s WASP-76 b,

where the dayside is hot enough to vaporize metals. Iron turns into gas,

rides fierce winds to the cooler nightside, and condenses into iron rain, falling like molten

blades. And deep inside giant planets, pressure becomes a cosmic forge:

carbon can crystallize into diamonds, which may fall like glittering hail toward the core.