Some Interesting Exoplanets

In 1990 the first planets outside our solar system were discovered, and with the discovery of 51 pegasi b, the number of identified exosolar, or exoplanets, has soared to about 230. Some are stranger than others.

#10: The first exoplanet discovered is a hot jupiter also called Bellerphon after the constellation it's located in, known as 51 pegasi b.

#9: The closest exoplanet to our solar system is Epsilon Eridani b, orbiting a star only 10.5 ligh years from earth, orbits too far away to support liquid water. However, scientists predict there are other stars in the system that could support alien life.

#8: There are some planet-sized objects that have no sun at all and float untethered through space, called planemos. These are similar but smaller than brown dwarfs, which are failed stars too small to achieve stellar ignition.

#7: There are some exoplanets that orbit their parent stars so closely that their orbits last less than a day called ultra-short-period planets. One example is SWEEPS-10.

#6: One of the largest temperature differences astronomers have ever seen on an exoplanet occurs on Upsilon Andromeda b, which is tidally locked to its sun so one side of the planet is always facing its star. One side of the planet is hot as lava while the other is chilled below freezing.

#5: The youngest exoplanet discovered is less than one million years old and orbits Coku Tau 4, which is a star 420 light-years away.

#4: The oldest exoplanet discovered is 12.7 billion years old, more than 8 billion years before Earth and only 2 billion years after the Big Bang. The discovery of this planet raised the possibility that life began far sooner than scientists had imagined.

#3: The planet HD209458b has a year only 3.5 Earth-days long because the planet orbits so close to its star that at least 10 thousand tons of material is being blown away by stellar wind every second.

#2: One of the first planets to have its light analyzed, or sniffed, HD 189733b's atmosphere contains thick clouds of particles similar to grains of sand, but scientists suspect there might be water vapor hidden beneath the clouds.

#1: The smallest exoplanet ever detected is also the first to lie within the habitable zone of its parent star, raising the possibility that the surface might sustain liquid water and even life. It is called Gliese 581 C.

All in all, these exoplanets are remarkable discoveries that are slowly giving scientists more and more clues as to where to search for extraterrestrial life.