NASA Discovers Distant Planet With Conditions That Could Sustain Rocks

WASHINGTON-Lauding the breakthrough as a pivotal moment in the search for stones beyond the solar system, researchers at NASA announced Tuesday the discovery of a distant planet with perfect conditions for sustaining rocks. After analysis of HD 101581 b's atmosphere and surface conditions, we are confident this astronomical body meets all known criteria for supporting rocks," said NASA administrator Jared Isaacman, specifying that the warm, dry atmosphere and presence of elements such as potassium and calcium point to the exoplanet containing an abundance of sand, pebbles, and other key building blocks of rocks. Many extrasolar planets are gas giants like Jupiter, which have no place for rocks to sit. Indeed, there's only a narrow zone in every star's orbit that is hospitable to rocks, and thanks to advancements in satellite imagery, we can confirm that a planet like this may one day play host to the very rocks we find here on Earth." NASA scientists cautioned that while the presence of rocks outside the solar system was all but assured, the odds were astonishing low that humans would ever encounter intelligent rocks.

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