Image credit: NASA/ESA/G. Bacon
The word ‘exoplanet’ relates
to any planet which is outside of our solar system. At last calculation, we
have detected 3,538 exoplanets. Among thousands of exoplanets planets we know
about, few of them are extremely weird matched to what we are used to observe
in our solar system. Here are few exoplanets with very exceptional features:
Kepler-78b
The best surprising point
about Kepler-78b is that it shouldn’t even be real, rendering to our present information
of planetary development. It is tremendously close to its star at only 550,000
miles i.e. 900,000 kilometers. As a contrast, Mercury only gets within 28.5
million miles of the sun in the closest point of its orbit. With the current
distance of Kepler-78b, that would mean it formed inside the star, which is unbearable
according to our current knowledge.
Kepler-78b itself is only faintly
larger than Earth, however surface environments are obviously different. The
temperature on the surface is expected to be 4300° F i.e. 2400° C, which is approximately
nine times the temperature on Venus. Awkwardly for Kepler-78b, it is possible
that the star’s gravitational attraction will slowly bring the planet closer
and totally evaporate it in the next 3 billion years.
WASP-12b
This exoplanet is aggressively
getting towed apart by its parental star, much to the amusement of stargazers
who can watch the process unfold. So much material has been dragged away from WASP-12b,
it has been dragged into an oblong football nature. Astrophysicists have predicted
that WASP-12b has approximately 10 million more years till it is totally pulled
apart by its parent star.
WASP-12b is defined as a “hot
Jupiter” as it is a gas planet and it is around 40 percent larger than Jupiter.
It is now so close to its star that it only takes 1.1 Earth days to complete a
full orbit around its parent star. It is located approximately 800 light years
away in the Auriga constellation.
TrES-2b
TrES-2b has been named the
“dark planet” as it does not reflect light. If we were able to view it
directly, it would expected just look like a coal-black sphere of gas. At
1800°F (1000°C) the planet is way too hot for clouds to form, which would help mirror
the star’s light. Other darker planets only return about 10% of the star’s
light, but TrES-2b only reflects about 1%, making it the darkest planet ever revealed.
Scientists aren’t quite sure
about the reason behind its darkness. The best supposition is that the majority
of the planet’s configuration is somewhat like sodium or potassium which
absorbs light. This dark Planet is about 750 light years away in the Draco
constellation.
55
Cancri e
55 Cancri e is double the size
of Earth but is approximately 8 times more gigantic and twice as dense. Last
fall, scientists comprehended that the mass of the planet was mainly carbon.
Due to the surface temperature of 2700°C and pressure it very well could have shaped
diamond. It is so close to its parent star it takes a mere 18 hours to complete
a full orbit around its parent star.
55 Cancri e is only around 40
light-years away from Earth in the Cancer constellation. Because of extreme circumstances,
astrophysicists don’t consider that 55 Cancri e has an atmosphere, making it a
poor candidate for the chance for life. Though, it is close enough for stargazers
to use it to test theories about planetary formation.
TrES-4
TrES-4 is located 1,400
lightyears away in the Hercules constellation, it is the largest exoplanet astronomers
discovered so far. However it is over 1.7 times the size of Jupiter, it has a tremendously
low density and is characterized as a “puffy” planet. The planet’s thickness is
about the same as cork, which arose as quite a surprise. Astrophysicists point
this to dangerous heat of 1,260° C due to its nearness to the star. At only 7.2
million kilometers away from its star, TrES-4 is able to complete an orbit in
three Earth days.
Gliese
436 b
Gliese436 b is located 30 lightyears away in the
constellation Leo, it is a planet that is around as massive as Neptune. The
planet also occurs to be enclosed in burning ice - however the ice isn’t whatsoever
like what we’re used to. The thrilling pressure of the planet powers the water
to stay in solid form, even yet the temperature exceeds 300° C. The external
layer of the solid water is superheated. Water has over 10 solid states, not counting
common ice.
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