The idea of space is scary enough when you think about it. I mean it's large and cold and there's nothing to grab onto which will leave you floating endlessly in its vastness. There are also black holes. We all seem pretty comfortable living on Earth, and we know a good amount of information about the other planets in our Solar System, but we usually don't think about what's taking place on other planets out there. So far, NASA has discovered over 4,000 exoplanets! In our search for life, we should be looking beyond our own home in the Milky Way to other stars and galaxies. Our Solar System may be very diverse, but there are planets out there that we as humans would have NEVER dreamed of. Some are fascinating and some are terrifying. Today I'm going to be talking about the terrifying ones. The ones that we would NEVER visit if we had the chance. The ones that life doesn't stand a chance on.
CoRot-7 b:
This planet is 60 times closer to its star than we are to the Sun. I can't even IMAGINE what that would feel like for us... it's hot enough here as it is. That would also be one HELL of a sunrise. This means that CoRot-7 b's star is 360 times bigger in its sky! Due to this, on the side of the planet experiencing daytime, it can reach up to 4,700 degrees Fahrenheit, which is hot enough to melt and vaporize rock, no big deal. This planet puts Venus to shame in terms of being a "hell world." There are occasionally some "cooler" fronts that take place on the planet, and the condensation from these causes pebbles to form and rocks to rain down (no thank you). There are many theoretical models of the planet, since we cannot see its surface for ourselves, and they suggest that the planet has boiling oceans and lava covering it. The icing on the cake is that this planet is also tidally-locked with its star, meaning that the same side of it is always facing its star.
As for the side that's not facing its star, the other half of the planet is... wait for it... EXTREMELY cold. In fact, it can reach as low as -392 degrees Fahrenheit. This is why this planet is said to be two hells in one. It was first discovered in 2009, and it was thought to be the first rocky, "Earth-like" exoplanet discovered. You can imagine that scientists have now classified the planet as uninhabitable. There is probably a zero percent chance that life could ever evolve on such a planet.
GJ 436 b:
Just 30 light years away from Earth lies GJ 436 b, a planet which is only 2.5 million miles from its host star (just for comparison Mercury is 36 million miles from the Sun). This gives the planet a surface temperature of 822 degrees Fahrenheit, which already means that there would be no liquid water on its surface, since water would definitely evaporate at such extreme temperatures. However, there is something VERY strange going on with this planet... its water remains in a solid state. Basically what that means is... GJ 436 b is a planet of burning ice. No, I'm not talking about the kind of ice we find on Earth, but a special kind of ice. This type of ice is called Ice VII which has a more denser and more crystalline structure than the ice we see here. It is believed that this ice formed because of the strong gravitational force at the planet's core.
You may have thought that was the end for the "contradictions" on GJ 436 b, but no. It has an outer layer of hydrogen and helium which should result in high levels of methane, but scientists are seeing 7,000 times LESS methane than what should be on the planet. Instead of all of this methane, there are large amounts of carbon monoxide, which is thought to have come from the planet's core where the temperatures are even more extreme than on the surface. Carbon monoxide is a known poison for humans, so we won't be visiting anytime soon.
HD 189733 b:
This planet is slightly larger than Jupiter and is located about 62 light years away from Earth. This planet has a beautiful blue color (similar to Uranus and Neptune) and it is due to the composition of its atmosphere which is mostly made of silicate atoms and particles. This planet may be beautiful, but it has some insane weather. Neptune may have the fastest winds in the Solar System, but HD 189733 b has winds that can reach speeds of up to 5,400 miles per hour (which is over 7 times faster than the speed of sound)! Not to mention, the temperatures on this planet can reach over 1,650 degrees Fahrenheit. Remember when I mentioned the planet having terrifying weather? Well, today's forecast is going to be rainy... oh did I mention that the rain would fall sideways? And be made of GLASS? I don't think anyone could prepare for such intense weather.
OGLE-2005-BLG-390lb:
The planets that we've seen so far have all been relatively close to Earth (at least in terms of light years), but now we're going to venture out over 20,000 light years away in the constellation of Sagittarius. OGLE-2005-BLG-390lb orbits a red dwarf which are the smallest and faintest stars in the universe. This planet orbits its star too far away to even feel what little heat that the star is generating. We've ventured to one of the coldest known planets in the universe with a surface temperature of about -364 degrees Fahrenheit. As you could have guessed, this planet is covered in a thick layer of ice. There are glaciers, canyons, plains, and enormous mountains of ice on its surface. It is highly unlikely that there is life on such a frozen wasteland. The temperatures are so cold that any life would instantly be frozen. (This does not entirely rule out the idea of life beneath the hostile surface). This is yet another planet we just would NOT want to visit.
WASP-12b:
This is one of the darkest known exoplanets in terms of color. What's particularly strange about this planet is that it "eats" light rather than reflecting it back into space like other planets do. This exoplanet is roughly twice the size of Jupiter and has the capability to trap at least 94 percent of the visible light from its star. This means that its atmosphere is a scorching 4,600 degrees Fahrenheit. This hell is also tidally locked to its star. It orbits so closely to its star, that it completes an orbit in just one Earth day. As expected, the night side of the planet is much cooler, with temperatures of 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit, which does allow water vapor and clouds to form surprisingly. Something interesting to note is that a swirl of material from the planet's atmosphere is "spilling" onto its star. This means that given enough time, the host star will eventually consume this planet. It's essentially doomed. It is literally being stretched and ripped apart. This exoplanet is classified as a "hot Jupiter." Regardless, that is a huge no thank you from me.
51 Pegasi b:
This gas giant is over 150 times the size of Earth and comprised mostly of hydrogen and helium. As you can imagine, like most of the other planets we've discussed, this is another extremely hot planet, with surface temperatures of over 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. It orbits its star over 100 times closer than the Earth is to the Sun. This heat also creates extremely windy weather. Whenever hot air rises, cool air rushes to replace it, creating 620 mile per hour winds! This heat ensures that no water vapor exists, but there is still "rain." Let's discuss the planet's main "quirk." 51 Pegasi b's intense heat allows the iron which creates the planet to be vaporized. This vapor rises and forms iron vapor clouds, which you can think of like the water vapor clouds here on Earth. There's just one thing about these clouds though... they will rain MOLTEN IRON down on the planet.
That's all of the planets that I'll be covering for now. Obviously we have discovered a LOT more, but sometimes it's difficult to learn much about what's taking place on these planets since they are so far away. Frankly, I'm REALLY, REALLY glad we have a planet like Earth. The weather here can be a bit unbearable sometimes, but it's honestly NOTHING compared to other planets in our universe. I mean, at least it only rains water and not glass or molten iron.
We just happened to be the right distance from the Sun to be able to support life and have liquid water on the surface of our planet. I know that the idea of "moving" to another planet has been discussed for a while, but honestly I'm not sure if we will ever find anything remotely similar to Earth. This is why I whole-heatedly believe in preserving our planet for as long as possible, so that many more future generations can enjoy this beautiful pale blue dot of ours. Perhaps there is life on an "extreme" planet out there. Maybe it's even looking at Earth as a "terrifying" planet. I mean, humans are pretty scary sometimes. Either way, the universe is such a vast place filled with so much wonder and horror at the same time. There are many more worlds to discover and this list of planets will just keep on growing. Let's learn to appreciate our planet more, and be glad that life didn't evolve on a world like any of these.
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