New Earth? A Look at the Mysterious Blue Alien Planet

Some 63 light-years from Earth, there is a planet which appears to have the dazzling blue skies of the earth; but could it also host life?

Whereas HD 189733b looks like earth at first glance, it is not as friendly as the latter. "To the human eye, this far-off planet looks bright blue," NASA says. "But any space traveler confusing it with the friendly skies of Earth would be badly mistaken. The weather on this world is deadly."

So what makes this alien planet inhabitable? While HD 189733b has the same hue as our planet, the orb is not rock-strewn. Therefore, it is instead considered a "hot Jupiter," -- a gaseous world resembling Jupiter, but much hotter.

According to NASA, the wind in this planet blows up to 5,400 mph (2 km/s) at seven times the speed of sound. In short, no man will be able to walk on it without getting whisked by the sharp winds. As mentioned by space.com, HD 189733b it orbits around its host star in just 2.2 Earth days.

The rain on this planet is not water. Dubbed as "rains of terror," the blue planet is suspected to have rains of molten glass as consequence to the planet's proximity to its sun. In a normal day, daytime temperatures soar as high as 930 degrees Celsius.

Why is it blue? As explained by NASA, the color comes not from the reflection of the ocean, "but rather a hazy, blow-torched atmosphere containing high clouds laced with silicate particles."

Although HD 189733b was discovered in 2005, its color was discovered in 2013 using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and other instruments. The color was identified by measuring the light reflected off the surface of the planet. Although other features of this planet cannot be identified yet with the technology, identifying its color is considered a milestone. Scientists who studied the planet in 2013 also speculate that HD 189733b could also have bright planet-wide auroras due to the wide-ranging stellar radiation hitting it.