Science. A giant rainbow detected on an exoplanet from Geneva

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A giant “rainbow” light years from us. The Cheops space telescope, whose science operations center is based at the University of Geneva, appears to have detected a glory, a luminous phenomenon similar to a rainbow, in the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-76b. If, seen from the telescope, the multicolored and misty sphere is almost magical; at closer range, according to the study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, this glow would be produced by the light of the star around which WASP-76b orbits reflected by “iron clouds, which drip in iron rain”, with a some stability.

Other data must still confirm the existence of this phenomenon, never before observed outside the solar system. If this extraordinary discovery is confirmed, it would open the way for scientists to identify other similar phenomena, some of which are a necessary condition for habitability.