Icy Hot

I learned something cool today - water can be ice even at high temperatures if there is enough pressure on it.

A team of Swiss and Belgian scientists discovered a large planet (named GJ 436b) 33 light-years away that is made mostly of ice while also having a surface temperature of about 250 degrees Celsius.

"The water is frozen by the pressure but it's hot. It's a bit strange — we are used to water changing conditions because of temperature, but in fact water can also be solidified by pressure," Frederic Pont told Reuters news service.

Looking for more significance than cool fact? Well, how about more proof that "there are many ocean planets" beyond Earth? Significant and cool.



CNN article