Hundreds of planets have been discovered in the universe, and among them some incredibly weird planets have been circulating online. Some of these weird planets are the sort of thing you would expect out of a science fiction film, and it’s hard to believe that they’re actually real. From the oldest planet in the universe, to the darkest, this is a list of 10 weird planets too crazy to believe.
Gliese 436 b
It’s an ice planet, yet it’s 822 degrees Fahrenheit (426 celsius). How is this possible? The ice on the planet is kept together through strong gravitational forces, which prevent the water molecules from evaporating and escaping the planet. The ice on Gliese is called ice-ten. The planet is the same size as Neptune and orbits the red dwarf Gliese 436. The planet is probably very close to it’s star, since it can orbit it’s galaxies star in only 2 days and 15.5 hours. The planet is also known as GJ 436 b, and it’s only 30 light years away from Earth. It’s become famous for being one of the most weird planets ever discovered.
J1407 b
This planet is 40 times the size of Jupiter. 37 rings surround the planet, which span close to 120 million kilometres wide. Gaps in the rings have been found which indicate that exomoons may have formed. The ring system is around 200 times larger than Saturn’s rings, which led to it being dubbed a super Saturn. Over several million years the rings will become thinner, eventually the rings will disappear completely. The orbital period is probably around 10 years. It’s so large that just one of it’s moons may be close to the size of Mars or earth.
Osiris
It’s located 150 light years from the earth, and inhabits the Pegasus constellation. Osiris is known as a hot Jupiter because it’s both incredibly large and close to it’s star. It’s only 4 million miles from it’s star. The star heats the planets core to temperatures reaching 2,000 degrees Celsius. The envelope of gas surrounding this planet is a scorching 10,000 degrees Celsius. 1.1 billion pounds of force is being ripped away from the planet every second, and this is killing the planet. It’s a gigantic planet, 220 times the size of earth, yet so close to it’s star that it’s year only lasts 3.5 earth days.
TrES-2b
TrES-2b is the darkest planet known to exist. Up close the planet would appear to be a black ball of gas, it reflects no light, and has a glowing red tinge. Why is the planet so dark? That parts still a mystery. The planet is close to it’s star, only 3 million miles away, and is 1,800 degrees Celsius. It’s 750 light years from us, and one of the hardest weird planets to see up close. Kepler uses light sensors to to continuously monitor thousands of stars, and looks for the regular dimming of stars. Dips in stellar brightness can be an indicator that a planet is transiting, or moving in front of a star and blocking it’s light, as TrES-2b does to it’s star.
PSR B1620-26 b
This is the oldest known planet in the universe, it’s 13 billion years old, and less than a billion years older than the universe itself. Our planet, which is 4.5 billion years old is less than half it’s age. It’s orbits two burned out stars which reside inside a core of 100,000 stars. The planet is evidence that the first planets formed very quickly, which means that planets could be abundant in our universe. It’s the first known planet in existence to orbit two stars instead of one. This alone makes it one of the weirdest planets, let alone it’s gargantuan size, and extreme age. One star is a pulsar, and the other is a white dwarf.
GJ1214b
This exoplanet orbits the star Gliese 1214 b. It’s 42 light years away from us. What makes this such an unusual planet is that it’s an ocean planet but it’s incredibly hot. The planet was nicknamed the Waterworld. A thick, steamy atmosphere covers the planet. It’s surface temperature is 230 degrees Celsius because it’s quite close to the red-dwarf star it orbits. The atmosphere of the planet is composed mostly of water. The temperature and pressure of this world, are high enough to form amazing material like superfluid water, and hot ice. It’s like that the planet formed further away from it’s star and then moved into it’s current spot a long time ago.
Hat-P-2b
This planet is bigger and hotter than the sun, it weighs the same as 2,500 Earths, and is travelling at an insane speed. The planet is located 3 to 9 million miles away from it’s star yet it only takes 5.6 Earth days for it to complete it’s orbit. It’s gravity is 15 times stronger than Earths, and it’s gets as hot as 2000 degrees Celsius. It lives in the constellation Hercules, and is the biggest known planet outside of our solar system. This is clearly one of the weirdest planets ever found, so much so that when scientists found it they didn’t even believe it was real, and assumed it was just a false alarm.
Kepler-186 f
This is one of the few weird planets that can actually sustain life. What makes this planet so strange is how similar it is to earth. This planet is roughly the same size as earth and inside it’s solar systems habitable zone. This planet isn’t even ten percent larger than earth, and is the most similar planet known right now. Kepler-186 f takes 130 days to orbit it’s sun. The atmosphere on this planet might make it possible to keep water in liquid form. Although promising, the planet is still a mystery to scientists, it’s possible that the planet is too far from the sun for the water to stay warm enough not too freeze, but perhaps it’s atmosphere is able to stop it from getting too cold.
WASP-33b
WASP-33b’s surface temperature is 3,200 degrees Celsius. It’s the hottest planet in the known universe. The planet flies very close to it’s star, which also happens to be the hottest known star in the universe. It’s around 378 light years away, situated in the Andromeda constellation. It’s orbit is complete every 30 hours. It’s a huge planet, 4 times the size of Jupiter. It’s 900 degrees hotter than the planet previously known to be the hottest, which was WASP-12b.
GJ 504b
Scientists have discovered an amazing planet only 57 light years from earth. The planet named GJ 504b is pink, and is the only pink planet ever discovered. Not only is the planet an unusual colour but it also changes ideas previously held by scientists. The planet orbits the yellow dwarf star, 59 Virginis. It’s an old planet, around 160 million years old, and it’s actually one of the smallest planets we’ve directly imaged. It has several times the mass of Jupiter, yet it’s about the same size. One of the most amazing things about the planet is that it’s so far away from the star it orbits, which is challenging ideas on how giant planets form.