(ORDO NEWS) ā Astronomers continue to discover more and more planets outside the solar system. Not all of them are livable in our understanding of the term, but each of them is amazing in its own way.
If space travel outside the home system were available to us, we would be happy to study many of these exoplanets.
Worlds revolving in other star systems beckon with unchanging force. After all, what could be more exciting than taking a step on another planet? Well, or at least look at it from orbit, if it is a red-hot gas giant.
Letās look at the ten most interesting exoplanets discovered by astronomers, and dream a little about how humanity will get to them sooner or later.
ā Fomalhaut b, strangely nicknamed the āzombie planetā, revolves around the brightest star in the night sky in fact, Fomalhaut. This planet is close in size to Mars and Earth, it was āblindedā from space dust quite recently and moves in a very strange zigzag orbit.
ā TrES-2b is officially the blackest planet known to scientists. This gas giant reflects less than one percent of its own starās light, making it blacker than coal, black acrylic paint, or soot.
ā Supposedly the lightest exoplanet known to us, KOI-314c is a miniature gas giant only 60% larger than Earth and mostly composed of hydrogen and helium.
ā Kepler-70b broke several space records at once. Firstly, the temperature of its surface is about two thousand degrees Celsius, and secondly, it is the planet closest to its star of all known.
ā OGLE-2005-BLG-390L b is a planet famous not only for its unpronounceable name. Orbiting a red dwarf in the constellation Scorpius, this rocky super-Earth is the most distant exoplanet known to us. It is located at a distance of 28 thousand light years from Earth.
ā COROT-7 b has a huge mass, but at the same time makes a complete revolution around its star ā a year ā in only 20 hours. The illuminated side of the planet is an ever-bubbling lava ocean. Unlit, most likely, chained in a crust of ice.
ā Kapteyn b is the oldest exoplanet known to us, older than Earth by 8 billion years. This makes it a potentially interesting candidate for the emergence of life, perhaps even intelligent life.
ā BD+20 1790b is believed to be the youngest planet known to astronomers, having formed about 35 million years ago. Despite such a young age by cosmic standards, the newly created planet has a powerful magnetic field.
ā GJ 1214b is the first āsuper-Earthā discovered around a red dwarf. Presumably completely covered with water, and an unusual combination of hot ice and superfluid liquids. The color of the planet remains red.
ā Kepler 10c is the largest rocky planet found so far, about the size of Saturn or Neptune. It is two and a half times larger than the Earth and about 17 times heavier.
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