How the laws of physics constrain the size of alien raindrops

The size of raindrops is similar no matter what they’re made of or what planet they fall on

clouds of Jupiter

The swirling clouds of Jupiter, captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft, could release semisolid ammonia slushballs of precipitation. New work suggests that any liquid rain on Jupiter would be similar in some ways to rain on any other cloudy world.

Gerald Eichstadt/MSSS/SwRI/JPL-Caltech/NASA

Whether they’re made of methane on Saturn’s moon Titan or iron on the exoplanet WASP 76b, alien raindrops behave similarly across the Milky Way.