The observations yield new insights into the chemical composition and cloud structure of the entire class.Ĭlouds often play key roles in planetary atmospheres. HD 189733b is among a bizarre class of planets called hot Jupiters, which orbit precariously close to their parent stars. Hubble and other observatories have made intensive studies of HD 189733b and found its atmosphere to be changeable and exotic. Silicates condensing in the heat could form very small drops of glass that scatter blue light more than red light. The cobalt blue color comes not from the reflection of a tropical ocean as it does on Earth, but rather a hazy, blow-torched atmosphere containing high clouds laced with silicate particles. On this turbulent alien world, the daytime temperature is nearly 2000° Fahrenheit (1100° Celsius), and it possibly rains glass - sideways - in howling, 4,500 mph (7,250 km/h) winds. If seen directly, this planet would look like a deep blue dot, reminiscent of Earth’s color as seen from space. The latest Hubble observation confirms the evidence. “This means that the object that disappeared was blue.”Įarlier observations have reported evidence for scattering of blue light on the planet. Light was missing in the blue but not in the red when it was hidden,” said research team member Frederic Pont of the University of Exeter in England. “We saw the light becoming less bright in the blue but not in the green or red. There was a small drop in light and a slight change in the color of the light. Hubble’s Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph measured changes in the color of light from the planet before, during, and after a pass behind its star. The planet is HD 189733b, one of the closest exoplanets that can be seen crossing the face of its star. He also regularly contributes to the Retronauts retrogaming podcast.Įdwards is the co-author of the book, Seeing Red: Nintendo's Virtual Boy, an in-depth look at the storied (and maligned) Nintendo platform.Astronomers making visible-light observations with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have deduced the actual color of a planet orbiting another star 63 light-years away.

In 2017, Edwards created The Culture of Tech podcast, which features interviews with tech, entertainment, and journalism luminaries such as Steve Wozniak, Richard Garriott, Adrienne LaFrance, and Felicia Day.

VC&G's dual devotion to both computer and video game history has attracted millions of visitors since 2005. His deep interviews and features have introduced tech icons like Jerry Lawson, Carol Shaw, Ralph Baer, and Ed Smith to a new generation of readers on the web and have been cited in numerous books and referenced in museums worldwide.Įdwards is also founder and Editor-in-Chief of Vintage Computing and Gaming (VC&G), a blog dedicated to classic technology. For over 15 years, he has written about technology and tech history for sites such as The Atlantic, Fast Company, PCMag, PCWorld, Macworld, Ars Technica, and Wired.Īs a collector of vintage computers and video games for over 25 years, he brings a deep sense of history to his writings and uses that to inform his works on the past, present, and future of tech.ĭuring his time as a journalist, Edwards has broken stories about the importance of software preservation, early video game history, the first computer art, minority and female tech pioneers, and online service archeology. Benj Edwards is a former Editor for How-To Geek.

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