20 Strange Planets That Are Both Interesting And Terrifying

J1407b has been referred to as a “Saturn on steroids” or “Super Saturn” due to its massive system of circumplanetary rings, which is about 640 times that of Saturn’s rings. It is an exoplanet located 434 light years from Earth in the constellation of Centaurus and is the only known exoplanet with rings similar to Saturn. 

If this planet swapped places with Saturn, its rings would dominate the Earth’s sky and appear many times larger than a full moon. There is a large gap halfway through the ring system, and a Mars-sized exomoon may orbit the planet within this gap. If aliens live on this exomoon, they have an extraordinary view looking up into the sky.

Gliese 581c is an exoplanet located 20 light years or 120 trillion miles (192 trillion kilometers) from Earth in the constellation of Libra. The planet orbits its star at a distance of 6.8 million miles (around 10.9 million kilometers), only 7% of the 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) between the Earth and the Sun. 

Gliese 581c is tidally locked, meaning that one side of the planet always faces the star, and the other never does. The closer side experiences scorching temperatures that would instantly melt you alive, while the farther side experiences freezing temperatures that could instantly turn you into a snowman. Between these two extremes, however, is a narrow strip of land with better conditions that could theoretically support alien life. In 2008, we sent a radio message to Gliese 581c, which is expected to reach the planet in 2029.

It is the most likely candidate for being an ocean planet. GJ 1214b has no land—only oceans stretching over its surface. If it is a water world, it could be considered a bigger and hotter version of Jupiter’s Galilean moon Europa.

Gliese 436b is an exoplanet located 30 light years from Earth in the constellation of Leo and seems to defy the laws of Physics. One orbit around the star takes only about two days or 15.5 hours. This planet orbits its star at a distance 15 times closer than Mercury is to the Sun. Its icy surface is roasting at 439°C (822°F). So how does ice, of all things, remain completely solid at 439 degrees above its melting point? 

Because the gravity on this rare planet is so powerful, it compresses the trace amounts of water vapor in the planet’s atmosphere into solid ice and prevents it from melting, no matter how much it burns.

55 Cancri E is only about 40 light-years away from us in the Cancer constellation. It is twice the size of Earth but is nearly eight times larger and twice as dense. It is so close to its parent star that it takes a mere 18 hours for the planet to complete a full orbit.

The parent star has much more carbon than the Sun, and the planet’s mass is considered largely carbon. Due to the pressure and average maximum surface temperature of 2400°C (4417°F), this “super-Earth” is believed to be covered with diamonds.

HAT-P-7b is located in the Cygnus constellation, about 1000 light-years from Earth. On the night side of this strange planet, high precipitation of aluminum oxide (corundum) is found in the atmosphere. 

Because corundum gems are rubies and sapphires, one can describe the hypothetical weather on the planet’s night side as “raining rubies and sapphires.” The planet also faces violent storms, so it’s likely that these rubies and sapphires are scattered planet-wide.

This planet orbits a pulsar—an extremely compact and dense neutron star about the size of a large city. This one has a diameter of 12 miles (19 kilometers), but its mass is 1.4 times the mass of the Sun. Another thing about pulsars is that they rotate quickly. Therefore, this planet has an orbital period of 2 hours.

HD 189773b is slightly larger than Jupiter in our solar system and is about 62 light years away from Earth. This cool-looking planet gets its deep, beautiful azure color from its strange atmosphere, which is made up mostly of silicate atoms and particles. The planet’s wind speeds can reach as high as 5,400 miles per hour, around 2 kilometers per second (seven times faster than the speed of sound). Temperatures can also reach over 900°C (1652°F) on the planet.

What is horrid and frightening about this planet is that it literally rains glass sideways, along with unbearably fast winds. If this storm were somehow to occur at Earth’s equator, it would travel around the Earth in just five and a half hours.