Alien weather forecast

It's likely to be hot and cloudy on GJ 1214b for the foreseeable future, say US scientists who have studied the planet, which is 40 light years away.

Scientists have issued the first weather forecast for an alien "super-Earth" orbiting a star 40 light years away.

They are pretty certain it's going to remain cloudy and hot on the planet GJ 1214b for the foreseeable future.

The world orbits very close to its "red dwarf" parent star, raising temperatures to a scorching 232C.

Using the Hubble Space Telescope to study light filtering through the planet's atmosphere, US astronomers have determined that GJ 1214b is shrouded by high-altitude clouds.

What the clouds are made of is still unknown, but computer simulations suggest they could be composed of potassium chloride or zinc sulphide dust.