Clouds can reflect a lot of sunlight . earthly concern ’s cloud mull around 30 percent of sunlight back into blank while Venus , whole hatch in clouds , reflects 75 pct , making it the brilliant object in our nighttime sky . Now , uranologist have found an exoplanet that is even shinier . Exoplanet LTT9779b reflects 80 percent of the starlight it receives , making it the shiniest known major planet yet , or the largest known " mirror " in the existence .

The quantity that appraise how reflective a satellite is is ring its albedo . The more reflective a airfoil is , the higher the albedo while dour or pugnacious surface draw Inner Light . Most worlds , unless they have a lot of cloud or are compensate in shiny snowy ice , have a low-spirited albedo . LTT9779b has an incredible albedo , which is surprising because it should n’t have any clouds at all – or an ambience .

Discovered using the European Space Agency ’s ( ESA ) exoplanet mission Cheops , the creation orbit around a Sun - like genius in just 19 hours and is so close that its whiz - facing side has a temperature estimated to be a sear 2,000 ° 100 ( 3,600 ° F ) . LTT9779b is slightly heavier and more or less larger than Neptune , and its impressive reflectivity is due to the metallic glassy cloud that make up its air .

This infographic shows the host star as a big yellow circle on the left, with the shiny exoplanet orbiting as a small circle around it in white/grey. The exoplanet orbits its star in around 19 hours. In the middle of the infographic, a schematic of the interior of the exoplanet is shown, with cloud layers of silicate (glass) and titanate in grey and white. On the right, three facts about the exoplanet are shown. It has a mass 1.7 times that of Neptune and a radius 1.2 times that of Neptune. The exoplanet’s dayside temperature is around 2000 °C

Glassy metallic clouds have created a mirror effect around this planet.Image Credit: ESA (Acknowledgement: work performed by ATG under contract for ESA)

“ Imagine a burn earthly concern , close to its star , with heavy clouds of alloy floating aloft , rain down down titanium droplets , ” co - writer James Jenkins , an astronomer at Diego Portales University and CATA ( Santiago , Chile ) , said in astatement .

This planet is definitely a mystery . There is a significant crack in the number of known Neptune - sized major planet orbiting so close to their wiz . The reason , uranologist conceive , is simple . Bigger planet , the " hot Jupiters " , have a gravity high enough to hold onto their atmospheres ( most of the prison term ) . But the atmospheres of “ hot Neptunes ” should be shove off aside , leaving behind a rocky Earth - sized magnetic core . This planet might be an exception due to its clouds reflecting away a lot of the get-up-and-go , give the satellite a scrap chance to keep its colicky envelope .

Its clouds are the other mystifier . At the temperatures experienced by this planet , there should n’t be any , even if they are made of glass or metal . And yet , here they are , showing up and showing off , making this remote world all glittery .

Any temperature above 100 ° C is too hot for cloud of H2O to form .

“ It was really a puzzle until we realised we should recall about this swarm formation in the same way as condensation forming in a can after a hot rain shower , ” explained Vivien Parmentier , a researcher at the lookout station of Côte d’Azur ( France ) and Centennial State - writer of the study .

“ To steam up a bathroom you may either cool down the air until water supply vapour condenses , or you may keep the hot piddle melt until clouds form because the air is so saturated with vapour that it simply ca n’t hold any more . Similarly , LTT9779 b can imprint metal clouds despite being so hot because the atmosphere is oversaturated with silicate and metal vapours . ”

The study was published in the journalAstronomy & Astrophysics .