“Bright” exoplanet, plane too heavy to take off, snow in Johannesburg

You’ve ordered your zot lé pou kroir menu for this week Monday, July 10th to Friday, July 14th, and here it is: the brightest planet ever discovered outside our solar system has revealed its face to astronomers, “too heavy to take off.” EasyJet had to dispose of 19 passengers. The snowfall on Monday surprised Johannesburg residents on Monday.

Like a mirror: Astronomers discover brightest exoplanets

This strange exoplanet, located more than 260 light-years from Earth, reflects 80% of the light of its host star, according to new observations from the European space telescope Khufu (distinguishes the exoplanet satellite).

It is the first exoplanet to match the brightness of Venus, and it is the brightest object in our night sky except for the Moon. Discovered in 2020, this Neptune-sized planet, called LTT9779b, orbits its star in just 19 hours.

Can you spot your reflection in this outer planet?????

our ESA_CHEOPS The mission spotted an extremely hot planet outside our solar system covered in reflective clouds of metal, making it the brightest exoplanet ever found.

???? https://t.co/nr72NkzwLk pic.twitter.com/lu7fVxuOP4

– ESA (esa) July 10, 2023

Because of this proximity, its luminous face rises to 2,000 degrees, a temperature considered too high for clouds to form. However, the reflection of LTT9779b indicates the presence of clouds.

“It was really a mystery,” according to Vivian Parmentier, a researcher at the Côte d’Azur Observatory and co-author of a study published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. Then, “the researchers looked at the formation of these clouds in the same way that condensation occurs in the bathroom after a hot shower,” the researcher explained in a press release.

Like the effect of very hot water in a shower, the burning stream of metal and silicates—the material glass is made of—saturated LTT9779b’s atmosphere until metallic clouds formed.

LTT9779b is about five times the size of Earth and is located in an area astronomers call the “hot Neptune desert,” where planets of this size “should not exist,” Mr. Parmenter sums up.

In addition, astronomers expected that such a planet would “see its atmosphere blown away by its star” to which it is very close, “leaving bare rock behind.”

They found the explanation: “LTT9779b’s metallic clouds act like a mirror,” reflecting light and preventing the atmosphere from being blown away, according to Maximilian Ginter, chief scientist for the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Khufu project.

I read here

– Too heavy to take off, easyJet offers 19 passengers 500 euros to get off the plane –

“Too heavy to boot.” The EasyJet plane connecting Lanzarote (Spain) to Liverpool (England), Wednesday 5 July 2023, had to dispose of 19 passengers, reports the Liverpool Echo. In order for the pilot to be able to fly, he made an unusual request to the passengers.

“Since there are so many of you, the plane is very heavy. Combining a relatively short runway and the unfavorable conditions currently prevailing in Lanzarote, this means that the plane is too heavy to take off,” he began, confronting several passengers on board.

#easyJetThe captain of the plane told 20 passengers to leave the plane because it was too much and she would not be able to take off from it # Lanzarote Because of the wind and warm weather. Flight from Lanzarote to #Liverpool About two hours.

???? © razza699 / TikTok#Spanish #United kingdom #airline pic.twitter.com/oa8pi4Imox

– FlightMode (@FlightModeblog) July 8, 2023

But even more impressive was the pilot’s addition, “I’ve spoken to our operations team and the only way to solve a problem with a heavy aircraft is to make it a little lighter. And if possible, I’d like to ask 20 volunteers to choose not to fly to Liverpool tonight.”

He supported his request with a guarantee of “€500 per passenger”, which EasyJet designated as a “financial reward”.

The request was confirmed by a company spokesperson. Elena peersThe man confirmed that “19 passengers on flight EZY3364 from Lanzarote to Liverpool volunteered to travel on a later flight.”

I read here.

– Snow falls in Johannesburg … unseen for 11 years –

Johannesburg residents woke up to snowfall and lightly blanketed rooftops and gardens as the cold front that hit the country late last week transformed into a weather system called a cold low, or ‘low low’.

In a kindergarten in Johannesburg, children were having fun making snowballs and trying to catch snowflakes with their tongues, some for the first time in their lives.

It snowed in Johannesburg…and other areas
“The first since 2012!” A rare phenomenon in South Africa: the snowfall surprised the residents of Johannesburg and several regions of the country.
???????? pic.twitter.com/962f3zsHVR

– RFI Africa (RFIAfrica) July 11, 2023

“The last time we had this kind of weather was in 2012,” Busiletsu Mofokeng of the South African Meteorological Center told AFP.

Welcome to Johannesburg – the ski capital
From the world! pic.twitter.com/GbTfWJ2s6X

– Dan Nicoll (@dannicholl) July 10, 2023

Seeing snow in Johannesburg, located at over 1,700 metres, is almost unheard of, but it remains very rare. Before 2012, the city was hit by a heavy snowfall in 1996, the meteorologist recalled.

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