WASP-76 b: The Exoplanet Where It Rains Iron

An international team of researchers, led by University of Geneva in Switzerland, has observed WASP-76b- an extreme exoplanet where it rains iron.

Key Observations

• Using the ESPRESSO instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of European Southern Observatory (ESO), the team observed WASP-76b which is located about 640 light-years away in the constellation Pisces. It is a gas giant, like Jupiter and Saturn.
• Like the Moon on its orbit around the Earth, the ultra-hot giant exoplanet is ‘tidally locked’, that is, it takes as long to rotate around its axis as it does to go around the star. Therefore, it always ....