Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Monday 16 March 2020
It's cloudy with a chance of iron rain at hot, faraway world

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. according to the research-
(AP) — At one hot, faraway ers.
world, it's always cloudy Strong wind — gusting at
with a chance of iron rain. more than 11,000 mph
That's the otherworldly fore- (18,000 kph) — constantly
cast from Swiss and other sweeps some of the vapor-
European astronomers who ized iron from the day to
have detected clouds full night side of the planet. In-
of iron droplets at a hot side the day-to-night tran-
Jupiterlike planet 390 light- sition zone, clouds appear
years away. to form as temperatures
This mega planet is so hot begin to drop.
on the sunny side — 4,350 "Surprisingly, however, we
degrees Fahrenheit (2,400 do not see the iron vapor in
degrees Celsius) — that the morning" as night tran-
iron vaporizes in the atmo- sitions back into day, lead
sphere. The iron likely con- This illustration made available by the European Southern Observatory in March 2020 depicts iron scientist David Ehrenreich
denses on the cooler night rain that may have been detected in the atmosphere of the ultra-hot exoplanet WASP-76b. of the University of Geneva
side of the planet, almost Associated Press said in a statement.
certainly turning into rain. The astronomers conclud-
"Like droplets of metal fall- Wednesday in the journal Discovered just a few years side always faces the star. ed the most likely explana-
ing from the sky," said Chris- Nature. ago, the planet designated So it's always daytime on tion is that it rains iron on
tophe Lovis of the University "It's like in the heavy steel Wasp-76b is nearly twice the star-facing side, with the night side.
of Geneva who took part in industry on Earth where the size of Jupiter, the larg- clear skies. And it's always Ehrenreich and his team
the study. they melt iron, and so you est in our solar system, yet nighttime on the night side, studied Wasp-76b and its
The iron rain would be ex- see this melting, flowing takes less than two days to where temperatures fall to extreme climate using a
tremely dense and pack metal. That's pretty much orbit its star. Because the about 2,700 degrees Fahr- new instrument on the Eu-
a pretty good punch, ac- what we are talking about planet's rotation matches enheit (1,500 degrees Cel- ropean Southern Observa-
cording to the research here," Lovis told The Associ- the time it takes to com- sius) and the sky is continu- tory's Very Large Telescope
team whose study appears ated Press. plete one orbit, the same ally overcast with iron rain, in Chile. q

Mexico: Monarch butterflies

drop 53% in wintering area

sion for natural protected cal, thanks to the fact that all because of the effects
areas said the butterflies' the first generation of but- of climate change on the
population was "stable," terflies in the spring of 2018 migration route and on the
even though they cov- encountered favorable wintering grounds in Mex-
ered only 2.8 hectares (6.9 weather conditions to re- ico." Aridjis said crime and
acres) this year. That was produce," he said. deforestation in Mexico is
down from 6.05 hectares In contrast, butterflies in the also a cause for alarm. One
(14.95 acres) the previous spring of 2019 encountered butterfly activist and a part-
year. Because the mon- colder weather in Texas time guide in the reserve
In this Jan. 31, 2020 file photo, monarch butterflies cling to
branches in their winter nesting grounds in El Rosario Sanctuary, archs cluster so densely in than the previous year, were murdered earlier this
near Ocampo, Michoacan state, Mexico. pine and fir trees, it is eas- and thus were less able to year.
Associated Press ier to count them by area reproduce. Last year's numbers were
rather than by individuals. Millions of monarchs mi- the biggest since the 2006-
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The World Wildlife Fund said the "During the most recent grate from the United 2007 season. Two years
number of monarch but- reduction "is not alarming." wintering season the norm States and Canada each ago, the butterflies cov-
terflies that showed up at WWF Mexico director Jorge has been for the butter- year to pine and fir forests ered 2.48 hectares (6.12
their winter resting grounds Rickards said the previous flies to cover an average west of Mexico's capital. acres), similar to this year's
decreased about 53% this year's large numbers were of about three hectares," In contrast to Rickards' numbers. The butterflies hit
year, Mexican officials said "atypical" and the mon- Rickards said. view, Tierra Curry, a senior a low of just 0.67 hectares
Friday. archs had returned to their "The last season, 2018-19, scientist at the Center for (1.66 acres) in 2013-2014.
Some activists called the average population levels was very good, with 6.05 Biological Diversity, wrote Mexico has made some
decline "heartbreaking," of recent years. hectares of forest cover, that "scientists were ex- strides against illegal log-
but the Mexico head of the The government commis- but it was certainly atypi- pecting the count to be ging in the reserve, but Ari-
down slightly, but this level djis said it remains a prob-
of decrease is heartbreak- lem in some areas. Butter-
ing." flies depend on health tree
"More protections are canopy to protect them
clearly needed for this mi- from rain and cold.
gratory wonder and its Some scientists said the ap-
habitat," Curry wrote. proximately 6-hectare (15-
Environmentalist and au- acre) coverage of a year
thor Homero Aridjis said that ago should be seen as a
"the decline of over 53% of minimum for the viability of
populations in the butterfly the migrating monarchs in
reserve is worrisome, above the future.q