Venus, the brightest object in Earth's night sky besides the moon, is our solar system's most reflective object, enrobed in toxic sulfuric acid clouds.
An atmosphere with water-based clouds, as on Earth, would have been blown away by solar radiation long ago.
But they believe its clouds are metallic, a combination of titanium and silicate - the stuff that makes up most of the rocks in Earth's crust.
"We even think that the clouds could condense into droplets, and have titanium rain falling in parts of the atmosphere," Jenkins said.
More than 5,000 planets beyond our solar system - called exoplanets - have been discovered, many with traits vastly different than our solar system's eight planets.
Persons:
James Jenkins, Jenkins, Sergio Hoyer, Vivien Parmentier, Parmentier, James Webb, Will Dunham, Rosalba O'Brien
Organizations:
Diego Portales University, Center, Astrophysics, Associated Technologies, Marseille Astrophysics, Telescope, Thomson
Locations:
Chile, Marseille, France