The Deadly Blue Planet HD 189733 b

Far beyond our solar system, about sixty-three light-years from Earth,

lies a planet that looks beautiful… but is absolutely deadly. This is HD 189733

b. From space, it appears deep blue, almost like Earth.

But that color doesn’t come from oceans. It comes from clouds filled with tiny particles of molten

glass. HD 189733 b is a hot Jupiter, a gas giant orbiting its star in just

over two days. Temperatures here soar past one thousand degrees Celsius, hot enough to vaporize

metal. Winds scream across the planet at more than eight thousand kilometers per hour,

faster than any storm we’ve ever known. And then, it rains.