Scientists Discover Bizarre Hell Planet Where It Rains Rocks and Oceans Are Made of Lava (cbsnews.com) 71
On planet K2-141b, oceans are made of molten lava, winds reach supersonic speeds and rain is made of rocks. "Scientists have referred to the bizarre, hellish exoplanet as one of the most 'extreme' ever discovered," reports CBS News. From the report: According to a new study published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, scientists from McGill University, York University and the Indian Institute of Science Education have uncovered details of one of the newest "lava planets" -- a world that so closely orbits its host star that much of it is composed of flowing lava oceans. Scientists found the atmosphere and weather cycle of K2-141b to be particularly bizarre. The Earth-sized exoplanet appears to have a surface, ocean and atmosphere all made of the same ingredients: rocks.
While analyzing the planet's illumination pattern, scientists found that about two-thirds of the planet experiences perpetual daylight. K2-141b's close proximity to its star gravitationally locks it in place -- meaning the same side always faces the star. This scorching hot part of the planet reaches temperatures of over 5,400 degrees Fahrenheit. It's hot enough to not only melt rocks, but also vaporize them, creating a thin, inhospitable atmosphere. The rest of the planet is cloaked in never-ending darkness, reaching frigid temperatures of negative 328 degrees Fahrenheit.
While analyzing the planet's illumination pattern, scientists found that about two-thirds of the planet experiences perpetual daylight. K2-141b's close proximity to its star gravitationally locks it in place -- meaning the same side always faces the star. This scorching hot part of the planet reaches temperatures of over 5,400 degrees Fahrenheit. It's hot enough to not only melt rocks, but also vaporize them, creating a thin, inhospitable atmosphere. The rest of the planet is cloaked in never-ending darkness, reaching frigid temperatures of negative 328 degrees Fahrenheit.
Don't rule it out (Score:5, Funny)
Okay, so it's not ideal for colonization, but it's 2020 and we have to be pragmatic here.
Re:Don't rule it out (Score:5, Funny)
If it turns out to be inhabited, we will need to send an ambassador. Preferably a senior statesman, retired.
Can you think of anyone who may be available soon?
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"TRUMP WON!"
Yep, he'll get the best cell in Rikers.
Re: Rule Biden Out (Score:2)
Is that the official greeting on this new planet? Yoop to you to!
Re: Don't rule it out (Score:2)
And here I thought it was the forward outpost for Omicron Persei 8
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Lrrr, stop posting on Slashdot and come eat your meal before it runs away.
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Pelosi would never go for it. Not enough hairdressers on that planet.
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Do you really want some sort of heavy metal overlord in charge of a bunch of crazy lunatics?
Because this is how you get a heavy metal overlord in charge of a bunch of crazy lunatics.
Re:Don't rule it out (Score:4, Interesting)
Okay, so it's not ideal for colonization
It is 5400F on one side and -358F on the other, so there must be a Goldilocks zone in between that is perfect.
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Yes, to my basement.
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Well, superior cultures may appear to differ by the labels, but the core values seem to match, eh.
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Hello, Fritzl!
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(in Vader's voice) "I am his father!"
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there must be a Goldilocks zone in between that is perfect.
That would be the 60 mile deep magma ocean. Any takers?
Re:Don't rule it out (Score:5, Funny)
... and considering the temperature difference you would basically have free energy.
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Not if that zone is fluctuating like the vortices behind an object in the wind.
If it's never nice for long enough, nothing can live there anyway.
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I expect the Goldilocks zone will be like standing up to your waist in the Gulf of Maine on the hottest day of the year. On average you're comfortable.
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We may soon get some practical experience (Score:2)
Here on earth.
Once we have burnt all the carbon that there is to burn. And then continue stealing solar energy from the Sun!
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It is not stealing if you just pick the trash.
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Sadly, in Germany, it is. But apparently, leaving something at the side of the road, or even throwing it on the ground at some random place in the city, still means it's owned by you, and taking it is still theft, even against the will of the "owner". And the trash is a donation to the garbage collector company, so taking it is stealing from them.
Yes, it's ridiculous. We Germans would even ruin traveling through space and picking alien trash. Don't let us travel to space. We'd be why you can't have nice thi
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Photosynthesis with photons thrown out by the Sun is illegal in Germany? But I've been there and seen trees, how do they manage?
Are all German trees prisoners?
OMG!11!!
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We could send Trump and all his voters there. Then he just has to tell them "It is far better than what the Democrats would have given us!" and then he could make it "great again" and declare that all the burning and heat is "over". (Yes, this is a joke. Demonstrate that you are able to take it.)
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I'm still waiting for Obama to take my guns away.
Re: Don't rule it out (Score:2)
I feel sorry for you, would some calming echoes of 2016 help? Just pay attention to what she does not what she says. Elections have consequences. She was just joking. She was just saying stuff to own conservatives. Feel better?
For real though, Trump is out. You can safely retreat to the line of they are worse than Republicans, if that's your cup of tea, instead of doing these mental gymnastics to paint the other side as worse than Trump. It must be tiring you out right?
A little more "taxes are bad" a
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"Okay, so it's not ideal for colonization, but it's 2020 and we have to be pragmatic here."
I'll wait 'til there is a Hard Rock Café there.
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This calls for a shout-out (Score:2)
There's a short story by Harlan Ellison called "Blind Lightning. Something about the description of this planet reminded me of it. It can be read free here:
https://www.you-books.com/book/H-Ellison/Blind-Lightning
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The movie was all cheese, but the effects are pretty good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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that you're watching a comic book story,
TIL that it is.
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Well duh. It was pure fun! People only dislike Riddick because they take it too seriously. Vin Diesel is constantly grinning with cheeky glee inside, whenever I see anything made by him, and it feels like nobody else is able to tell.
Oh, and that Riddick game, that came out around the time of Doom 3, Half-Life 2 and FarCry, was my favorite game of all of those, frankly. Because he produced it himself. It's got everything, and I really recommend it. (Especially killing a guard with his own gun while he is hol
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I would have liked 'Pitch Black' a lot more if they hadn't killed off Claudia Black so damn fast. She was actually the reason why I watched the movie in the first place.
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He'd only trash it and then claim it was the Greatest Trash Job Ever.
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What's there to trash?
Extrapolation (Score:1)
Yeah, I’m guessing some of these researchers are frustrated wannabee science fiction writers. Or maybe they’re in Oregon and took quick advantage of the legalization of magic mushrooms.
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Class Y planet: https://memory-alpha.fandom.co... [fandom.com]
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And I'm guessing that as usual, https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pm... [tvtropes.org]
I mean come on, quantum physics? Relativity? If it was a sci-fi story, people would find it unrealistic, over the top and nonsensical.
"Reality is six sigma of madness" -- Me
That planet is not perfect (Score:2)
but it has one thing going for it: there's no humans on it.
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Rock people from hell planet: Oh no! They found us! Don't look them in the telescopes! Don't look them in the telescopes! Look the other way! ... Fuck, they're coming for us!
Next scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
We kept warning them about global warming.... (Score:2)
We kept warning them about global warming... but they didn't listen.
They didn't listen.
Hot on one side but cold on the other side? (Score:5, Funny)
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Now there's a Halloween advertisement opportunity!
Super Mario (Score:3)
Oceans of lava and raining rocks - pretty much the last levels of Super Mario Bros.
The only thing more absurd (Score:2)
than using Fahrenheit in a science article is using Fahrenheit in a science article describing extreme temperatures. The range is 3255K to 73K. At least now you have a basis for comparison to the sun and absolute zero instead of just some warm afternoon in Texas.
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> . At least now you have a basis for comparison to the sun and absolute zero instead of just some warm afternoon in Texas.
I gu as that depends, which do you have experience with, in order to compare to something you actually understand?:
A) The temperature on the surface of the sun
B) Absolute zero
C) A hot afternoon
If you're doing a physics calculation, absolute zero has some useful properties. But then if you're doing physics calculations, you'll need it to be a bit more specific than "raining rocks".
Moderate Climate Zone (Score:2)
So there is a zone with moderate temperatures between the very cold and the very warm. What is it like?
Since the gradient is very high I suppose the zone will be narrow and not very stable. It's no good if the average temperature is 290K if it regularly rises to 1000K.
Also, life tends to get boring if you have to eat rock soup everyday and breathe rock air. Sometimes you want some water to put in to it. So I wouldn't want to live there.
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Well, to be fair... (Score:2)
... water rain is the rain of a type of rock called ice.
And our air is deadly to a large part of the species on earth too, thanks to the oxygen that rusts and burns all the things thanks to the damn trees and algae ruining the atmosphere.
So there might be species out there, to which our planet is hell.
Are you sure? (Score:2)
What's it like when the weather is bad (Score:2)
I'm a little fuzzy on this good-bad thing...
the other side (Score:1)
The other side is like Finland in winter time
Wouldn't the rock pile up on the cold side? (Score:2)
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I was wondering if condensed rock would pile up in the cold zone until the planet was heavier on that side, at which point it might flip around towards the star.
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Interesting question and not so easy to answer. Gravitational locking of a planet's rotation is not like a floating object turning its lighter side up. It's caused by the gradient of the gravitational field of the sun; as the planet rotates, it undergoes deformation because the sun is pulling the closer parts of the planet a bit harder than far-away parts. On earth, this leads to the tides in the sea level. It also leads to a drag on the rotation of the planet. Wait long enough and the rotation slows to the
A matter of perspective (Score:5, Interesting)
From the point of view of life on, say, Saturn's moon Titan, Earth can be described in much the same way. It's so hot here that the H20 rocks liquefy and are even vaporized into the atmosphere, occasionally raining down on the hapless earthlings. Vast oceans of liquid rock dominate the planet.
Sounds like Crematoria (Score:2)
Haven't I been there before? (Score:1)
I feel like I've been to that planet before. I remember fighting demons and having to use a very large gun to take out a group of cacodem--
Nevermind, I was thinking of Doom
They found Tholia! (Score:2)
Just watch out for starships spinning webs.
mountains from rocks! (Score:1)