First Cloudy Alien Planet Spotted From Earth

First Cloudy Alien Planet Spotted From Earth
  • Preliminary observations with the Kepler space telescope --which was designed to hunt planets until a second reaction wheel failed earlier this year -- found "moon-like phases" on Kepler-7b. These showed a bright spot on the western  hemisphere.

  • NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope measured Kepler-7b's temperature using infrared light, calculating it at between 1,500 and 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (815 and 982 degrees Celsius.)

  • Something was clearly going on, as the planet is extremely close to its star; only 0.06 Earth-sun distances away. The temperature was too cool. They figured out that the light was reflected off cloud tops on the planet's west side.

  • Elizabeth Howell