10:45
It is called the closest planet similar to Earth. And at first it's easy to believe. You stand on the edge of twilight, where eternal sunset meets eternal night. Under the soft Red Sun, you see the mountains, both ahead and behind. Some are glowing red-hot, others are dark and icy. There is peace here. It seems like you could set up camp here and even go hiking, and then the sky explodes. The gentle sun you were admiring seconds ago has caused a radioactive storm powerful enough to fry your DNA. Proxima Centauri B is only 4.2 light-years from Earth. And it's also a great example of why it's worth reading the fine print before booking a
one-way ticket. It turns out that the star it orbits, Proxima Centauri, likes to throw tantrums in the form of massive flares, regularly irradiating the surface with enough radiation to sterilize it over and over again. So, if you are still tempted to visit this place, better stock up on sunscreen with a factor of a million and grab at least 10 lead umbrellas. Believe me, you will need each of them. If this is what the nearest, seemingly Earth-like world does to you, just wait until you see what others have in store. Today we travel the most extreme exoplanets in the galaxy, trying to stay alive and sane. So now you know you shouldn't go near a red dwarf, but the opposite extreme is even more extreme. This is Ogul 2005. Something like that.
A super-Earth located almost at the other end of the galaxy, 21,500 light-years away. With a mass five times that of Earth, you might think it was a world of extreme gravity. Yes. But no, the gravity on the surface here is actually quite bearable due to the larger size of the planet, and it distributes the gravity. You step out onto the cracked ice plains of an alien world and look up at the sky, where a faint red star flickers. The horizon stretches in all directions with a sea of crushed ice. And what is this? Your visor fogs up almost instantly.
This planet is often called the real-life version of Hoth from Star Wars. But I'll tell you this: - it's practically a tropical paradise compared to the frozen world of the globe. Here the temperature drops to about -220° C. That's colder than liquid nitrogen. And while our Pluto may be even colder, it doesn't have an atmosphere to steal your warmth like this Hoth imitator does. So, if you absolutely must live out your Empire Strikes Back fantasy, wear a nuclear parka over your spacesuit, ski goggles to keep your visor from freezing, and bring at least three Tauntauns. Yes, the ones that you can cut open to keep warm inside. Don't thank me.
Some exoplanets literally make you sing the melody of star warriors. Ilerp 16 battle. One of them is located about 200 light years from Earth. This gas giant is about the size of Saturn, but has half the mass of Jupiter. And yet it is not known for its size. Pleler 16bi orbits not one, but two stars. You'll have to walk on the dusty surface of one of its rocky moons, because you can't walk on a gas giant. Enjoy the view. Tall cliffs, rolling dunes of burnt orange sand, and two scorching suns setting in perfect tandem over the horizon.
You don't even have to squint to imagine Skywalker's hatch standing next to you, staring off into the distance while John Williams' music plays in your head For a moment, it really does seem like the perfect Star Wars-style sunset. But when they do sit down, it's more like good old Mercury. The temperature there has a crazy range of over 600° between day and night, with no atmosphere to smooth out this transition. The same goes for Tatooine's twin. Still determined to fulfill their fantasy. Okay, but pack a sturdy pair of space boots that won't melt or freeze. A reliable companion droid to keep equipment from breaking from thermal shock. And binoculars to look at Jau. You never know when they'll show up to take your ship apart for parts.
Some planets just beg to be put in the extreme sports category, and this one also tries to kill you in style. This rocky super-Earth is 55 Cancer and is located only 41 light-years away, about twice the size of Earth, and eight times the mass of Earth. You might have expected a boring gravity-crushing scenario this time, but no, gravity is not the problem here. The problem is that this place is a real hell. From the moment you land, your visor fills with glowing lava rivers that snake across the surface like molten neon. Above you, the black sky flickers dimly, while iron snow falls from the scorching winds. This is real heavy metal.
You see, 55 Cancer is so close to its star that its surface temperature averages over 2300°C. This is enough to evaporate the iron. At least half of the planet is a molten ocean of lava, constantly seething, cracking, and boiling. It's like the whole crust is trying to shake you off. Imagine Mustafar from Star Wars. Only here Anakin and Obi-Wannobi would instantly turn into crispy nuggets. But if you happen to have proper sci-fi thermal protection, lavafing is definitely worth a try. You will be several orders of magnitude more fashionable than anyone on earth. Just try really, really hard not to slip off the board. So in addition to a heat-resistant hoverboard from the silver surfer himself, be sure to bring plenty of aloe
vera ointment in case you inevitably find out how much it burns. And a freshly signed will. Just in case, while you're doing extremely dangerous things. But some truly extreme planets can't decide whether it's cold or hot. Like Gliese 436 battle. This little oddball is located just 30 light-years from Earth, is about the size of Neptune, and has a mass over 20 times that of Earth. And he has one incredible trick. Ice, but not the kind you're used to. Step onto the withered surface, and at first the scene will seem surreal. The ice stretches out across the galaxy, sparkling under the dim orange light of its home star. But then the sensors in your suit start screaming that the surface temperature exceeds 400°, so you're on
Venus. This is enough to melt lead. And yet the ice remains absolutely solid. This is not some spa trick. GZET6B's gravity is so intense that it compresses water molecules into a bizarre crystalline structure known as hot ice, technically called ice seven, which remains solid even at hellish temperatures due to the extreme pressure. It's just fire. Sorry for the pun. Now you just have to tell your friends that you were standing on fiery ice. But it will burn your legs, instantly ignoring the spacesuit. But for this, you are probably being torn apart by enormous pressure, many times
greater than that which destroyed the Ocean Gate submarine. My advice: don't go down there at all. Take a pair of pressure- and heat-resistant probes, the same ones we sent to Venus, and a VR headset connected to their cameras. Maybe one of them won't break instantly and will give you a glimpse into the world of hot ice. It's not as cool as standing there in person, but the remote virtual reality option exists for just such cases. Plus, I'll make up for your lack of immersion with this exclusive treat, a cotton candy planet that shouldn't have existed at all That 6894bi was recently discovered near a red dwarf about 240 light-years from Earth. At first glance, it looks like a standard gas giant. But here's what's strange. Although it is huge,
almost as large as Jupiter, it is also at least eight times lighter than our main gas giant, which in turn means that Thoi 6894bi is less dense than cotton candy. Essentially, it's a giant ball of hot gas that's held together in some unknown way. It's more fluff than a planet, and it defies logic. But if you find yourself there, it will be like floating in a dream. All around you are a mass of pink clouds that stretch endlessly in all directions. The horizon glows softly like a fading sunset. It's calming at first, but then it gets to you. There is no real bottom here. That 6894bi is so low-density that it barely holds together. So if your rope breaks, you'll just drown forever.
This planet is extremely calming, beautiful, and absolutely terrifying, if you don't forget about planetary physics. So, if you're planning that one-way trip to the chubby country, here's what you'll need. Personal crossbike with emergency accelerators. Enough oxygen to last longer than your nerves, and a very strong graphene cable for safety. Without it, you will become just another ghost drifting through the endless clouds. But hey, maybe you like smooth and dense exoplanets? Then I have a simply brilliant destination for you.
This planet is located about 4,000 light-years away and is unlike anything else in the galaxy. It orbits a millisecond pulsar, essentially a dead neutron star that spins very rapidly and spews radio waves in our direction. But even that's not the strangest thing. The surface of this planet sparkles as if a jewelry store had exploded here. Mountains of sharp crystal catch the dim, deadly light of their host pulsar, scattering shards of radiance in all directions. But why? This planet is four times wider than Earth, but at the same time hundreds of times heavier, almost like Jupiter? The gravity here is so devastating that over time the carbon crystallized into solid diamond.
Some scientists even believe that it used to be a star, a white dwarf, but then a pulsar ripped off almost all of its mass. So in the end we have a diamond exoplanet. If you have some kind of anti-gravity device to visit it, it will feel surreal, even decadent. But before you carve out a souvenir, pay attention to the dim light flashing in the sky. It reminds you where you really are. orbiting a pulsar, spinning hundreds of times a second, spewing intense beams of radiation powerful enough to fry your suit and scramble your DNA like an egg. So, if you absolutely must show off to everyone you know, grab a Geiger counter so you at least know how quickly you're dying. A diamond drill bit if you plan on
chipping away a piece of flooring, and of course, a lead-lined tuxedo. If you're going to die, then go with style. Savage planets are beautiful with the same beauty as a sharp knife. The compound- numbered HD, located just over 250 light-years from Earth, is the most prominent, so much so that it has its own name. Deathly Hallows. This is an ancient Gallic god of thunder, like Thor or Zeus, just from a different region. But why did astronomers want to highlight this particular feature of the exoplanet? Well, how do you say it? The parent star of Smertrios is of spectral class Fzhcha, the Sun. And the planet orbits very, very close to it, about 20 times closer than Mercury is to the Sun. But here we have a gas giant.
about the size of Saturn, but denser thanks to a massive rocky core and a thick atmosphere that's not just suffocating, it's blinding. The first thing you notice when you descend into its upper layers is the color. The entire sky shimmers with bright yellow and orange, pierced by flashes of electric light. And then you feel it. Tiny bumps on the helmet, a soft hiss, the TV starts to get covered in scratches. This is because it is raining. Rain from the glass. The intense heat and pressure in the atmosphere cause the silicate vapor to condense into
droplets of molten glass, spreading the mist. And as if that wasn't enough. The chemical cocktail of the air also produces sapphire dust that lazily falls with the glass, turning the whole place into some kind of insanely gorgeous snow globe. Only the atmosphere is heated to over 1500 degrees. The furnace is a little short of melting bronze and silver. The winds here blow at a speed of thousands of kilometers per hour, throwing these shards of molten glass to the side, turning everything into a hellish blender just waiting to shred you. This is what I call a storm worthy of the name of God. To at least try to withstand Smertrios in all his glory, take a shockproof helmet, through which you can at least see something after
sandblasting with glass, as well as a full set of armor, preferably indestructible. Oh, and the BFG will think of it just in case we encounter demons in this hellhole. Some planets simply don't respect personal space. And the Cler 36 system is the most uncomfortable neighborhood in the galaxy. About 1,200 light-years from Earth, these two stars, Svetir 36B and Tapler 36C, share one of the closest orbits we've ever seen. How tight, you ask? You are standing on Kepler 36B as their orbits bring them closest to within a few million kilometers. And in the sky you see a gas giant, similar to Neptune, looming just above you. Ova! But this beauty comes with
problems. Every 97 days, as the two worlds pass each other, the approaching tidal forces from Cler 36C pull and knead your planet's crust. You feel earthquakes shaking your suit and see the horizon tremble. It's like the whole world is trying to throw you off its pedestal. But where else can you stand under an entire planet and feel like it's about to fall on your head? It's both terrifying and beautiful. the best front row seats to contemplate a system that probably shouldn't exist at all. So pack your things wisely. A stabilizing exoskeleton to keep you from falling during the strongest tremors, a good
pair of earplugs to actually sleep during the season of constant earthquakes. And most importantly, something to calm your nerves as this vast world silently glides over you like a cosmic guillotine. Wild vacations end with a bang, but let's end ours with something soothing, extremely soothing. Indeed, about 750 light-years from Earth lies 2Bi, a gas giant about the size of Jupiter. But if Jupiter is a raging canvas of colorful storms, then 2B is nothing. It reflects less than 1% of the light that falls here. This means that the planet is blacker than fresh asphalt in the north and the event horizon of a black hole. You descend into its upper atmosphere.
And for a moment it seems to you that the helmet has simply turned off. Below you is only an endless abyss of dark gas. Above you, faint glimmers of stars try to illuminate something and fail. It is the darkest known planet in the galaxy. And we don't have time to imagine why. Is this the worst? And yet there is peace and peacemaking in this After all those extreme worlds, flashes, storms, hot ice, and glass rain, here the emptiness just swallows you whole. This is most similar to a black hole encounter without an actual black hole. It's so quiet and eerie here. So if you're making 2B your last stop, grab some industrial spotlights. If you really think you need to see what's out there. and a
sturdy phone with a therapist's number on speed dial in case the darkness starts to creep in. So out of all these worlds, which one would you definitely go to and which one would you avoid at all costs? Share your extreme favorites in the comments.
