M.Weiss / CXC / NASA
We already know 6000 exoplanets! And there are 8000 left to validate. From giant shining diamonds to lava worlds: the planets that spin beyond the Solar System.
Astronomers recently reached a notable milestone: more than 6,000 confirmed exoplanets, with another 8,000 candidates awaiting validation. These discoveries reveal a universe much stranger and more varied than our Solar System, where planets follow relatively predictable patterns around a single star. Beyond our cosmic backyard, the planets defy expectations, taking on shapes and orbits that question the conventional idea of what a world can be.
Among the most impressive planets, points out, are the so-called “Hot Jupiters”gases that orbit extremely close to their stars.
CoRoT-2b, for example, completes an orbit in just 1.7 Earth days. The star’s intense heat inflates the planet enough to melt steel on the side facing the sunwhile violent winds blow in directions opposite to those expected by scientists. Similarly, the planets WASP-12b, , and are huge and sizzling, with shapes distorted by gravitational forces. WASP-12b faces yet another danger: its star is stealing its atmosphere.
But not all extreme exoplanets are gas giants. The, known as the brightest planet ever discoveredreflects 80% of the starlight it receives, becoming a true cosmic mirror.
This already represents the extreme of rocky planets. This super-Earth, about four times larger than our planet, is probably a molten lava world. It may be in a locked rotation, resulting in one hemisphere baked by the star’s intense light and another permanently in darkness. Internal forces can also trigger volcanism across the planet, creating a landscape of continuous, scorching activity.
The PSR J1719-1438 b takes planetary weirdness to another level. Often nicknamed “diamond planet”it is believed to be composed mainly of crystalline carbon, but with a density much higher than any terrestrial diamond. What’s more, it orbits a millisecond pulsar — a rapidly spinning neutron star that emits lethal X- and gamma-ray radiation. This planet may have originally been a star, whose outer layers were stripped away by the pulsar’s gravity during a supernova, leaving behind an extraordinary crystalline core.
Somewhere between these extremes, a planet stands out due to its extraordinary singularity, according to IFL Science. Our blue giant is currently the only known world capable of supporting life. In a universe full of hells, mirrored giants and crystalline planets around dead stars, the fact that life exists here may be the greatest strangeness of all.
