Without extensive knowledge, how many astronomical anomalies can a person name without saying our solar system’s eight planets and one star?  Perhaps very few; however, the Milky Way galaxy is approximately 100 thousand light years in diameter, and, compared to the entire universe, it is just a snowflake amongst the biggest glacier. There is more to explore than just our safe solar system; these objects seem to come straight out of science fiction, but they are as real as we are.

Bellerophon: Officially 15 Pegasi b, this extrasolar planet has been dubbed Bellerophon. It is 150 times bigger than Earth and has proved to be a gas giant like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. However, its discovery has led astronomers to create an entirely new class of planet: “Hot Jupiter.” Bellerophon, a “hot Jupiter,” is much too close to its parent star; so close that it orbits its sun every 4.2 days and makes it wobble. At a searing 1800 degrees Fahrenheit, one side of this planet faces its parent star forever. Imagine permanent daytime on one side, and permanent night on the other. Like Jupiter, Bellerophon’s atmosphere is extremely windy and stormy, with winds up to thousands of miles per hour. Bellerophon rains; however, it does not rain water, but iron.

Osiris: While catalogued as HD 209458 b, this planet has been unofficially named Osiris, Egyptian god of the dead. It’s the perfect name for this planet: it’s spooky, deadly, an extraterrestrial zombie. It is often portrayed as a pale grey and blue Jupiter-looking mass. Like Bellerophon, Osiris is also a “hot Jupiter” because it is dangerously close to its star. So close, that it is dying. As it spirals around its parent star, it leaves behind a ghostly, noxious trail of carbon and oxygen. Its mass is 220 times the Earth and 2.5 times greater than Jupiter. Osiris makes one full rotation around its star every 3.5 Earth days.

Kepler 22b: The Kepler space telescope’s mission was to find Earth-like planets and possibly alien life. Launched March 7, 2009, it has discovered over 1000 planets in the habitable zone: not too far away from their suns and not too close, just the right temperature for sustaining life. Kepler 22b was NASA’s first discovery of a planet outside of our solar system in this zone and that may be capable of sustaining alien life. Since the temperature on this planet is just right, astronomers speculate that it contains liquid water, an essential to all life as we know it. Kepler 22b’s composition is unknown as of today. It could be a gaseous planet, like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Or, it can be a “water world”, a planet entirely covered in water. If it is a rocky planet like Earth, however, it has a higher potential to sustain life. What astronomers do know is that it is 2.4 times Earth’s radius, the first so-called “super Earth.”

Gliese 667Cc: Like Kepler 22b, Gliese 667Cc is in the “habitable zone.” However, instead of partaking in a one-star system like our Bellerophon, Osiris, Kepler 22b and our own planet, Gliese 667Cc is an extrasolar planet that orbits in the three-star system of Gliese 667. It is also a “super Earth,” sporting 4.5 times the Earth’s mass. Unlike Kepler 22b, astronomers know this planet’s composition: it is speculated to be about 85% similar to Earth, rocky with resemblance to Earth’s atmosphere. Astronomers speculate its surface temperature to be 86 degrees Fahrenheit, making the presence of liquid water highly probable. Under these conditions, alien life could very much be inhabiting this planet. Perhaps humans could even venture this world, as long as it had a strong magnetic field to protect itself from solar radiation, like Earth.

By Morgan Loxley