Exoplanet "like a mirror" due to metallic clouds

Originally published at: Exoplanet "like a mirror" due to metallic clouds | Boing Boing

8 Likes

“It’s a planet that shouldn’t exist,” Mr Parmentier said. “We expect planets like this to have their atmosphere blown away by their star, leaving behind bare rock.”

We are in the early days of Xeno planet study; surprises are expected. What a remarkable discovery.

18 Likes

silicon’s the next step up on the periodic table from carbon, proposed as analog to the building blocks of life under the right conditions, so absolutely definitely the planet is a single entity of pure mind

proof!

7 Likes

It’s been a while, but wasn’t there a mirror planet in Greg Bear’s Anvil of Stars?

4 Likes

6 Likes

Literally the most metal planet

3 Likes

Talking about mirror-like planets…

I remember a short animated film, probably from the '90s, maybe it had a draw-with-crayons look. On that film, after the discovery of a multitude of mirror planets all over the universe, every question was answered; humans only needed to point a telescope to a specific mirror planet to see a specific moment in the past. Then, since there was no more questions to be answered, life became boring.

I wonder if anybody saw that short animated film. Do you know the name? I haven’t been able to find it.

3 Likes

I’m no scientist, but this is the stuff that makes me love, love, love science:

“It’s a planet that shouldn’t exist,” Mr Parmentier said. "We expect[ed something else].

Hell yeah.

6 Likes

Marvel Comics Space GIF by Abel M'Vada

10 Likes

but what about the last question?

3 Likes

Thanks @gatto for the reminder; I haven’t read that short story in a while.

3 Likes

Another favorite in the same genre and theme:

3 Likes

This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.