This Neptune-Sized Exoplanet Has A Blue Sky Like Earth

Space





Photo credit:

Artists impression of GJ 3470b and its host star, by NAOJ.

Astronomers can learn a lot about a planet using very little. In this specific case, a team of researchers was able to find out that the sky of an exoplanet 100 light-years from Earth is blue. The planet, which is about the size of Neptune, is the smallest on which Rayleigh scattering – the same effect responsible for the blue sky on Earth – has been detected.