In 2011, NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope observed what is believed to have been tiny crystals of olivine falling like rain through the dusty cloud of gas of a developing star. This “olivine rain” was thought to have occurred as strong air currents lifted newly crystallized particles of olivine from the surface of the forming star, high into its atmosphere, and then dropped them when the currents lost their momentum. The result was a rain of glittering green olivine crystals.