Strange Heavenly Bodies: Planets Vaping and Devouring the Light

One of the favorite themes of science fiction writers is all kinds of alien worlds that are fundamentally different from Earth. But what if we tell you that in the real Universe there are such incredible planets that, as they say, are not described in a book or in a movie. We present you the five of the strangest planets, which there is something to surprise even the most sophisticated fans of the fantasy genre.

TrES-2b - a planet that devours light

This is hell in the form of a planet. It is the blackest planet of all and absorbs 99% of all the light incident on it! TrES-2b has no atmosphere, and its surface is only 5 times cooler than the surface of the Sun, so there is an abundance of sea of molten magma the size of the Earth.

Fomalhaut b - a planet passing through the Eye of Sauron

Such a prosaic name, Eye of Sauron, the young star Fomalhaut received because of the space debris surrounding her, in conjunction with which she is very similar to a giant eye in the depths of space. How gigantic? About an order of magnitude larger than our solar system! And it is impossible to imagine what serious passions are happening here.

Planet Fomalhaut b, orbiting a star, like a small seagull, swims in a gigantic ocean of space debris, rocks, ice and dust, which every now and then collide, creating the brightest fireworks from burning rocks and exploding ice of planetary proportions. However, the tragedy of her life is even different. The fact is that another planet, which constantly pushes it from the near circumstellar orbit, doomed it to such a curse.

KIC 12557548 b - an evaporating planet

The unfortunate planet KIC 12557548 b for eternity, of course, in the human sense, has been subjected to slow death torture by its own star. Here, to explain in more detail, you will have to get away from literary drama and move on to dry science. So, KIC 12557548 b makes a complete revolution around its star in just 16 hours, and this suggests that the temperature on its surface is too high for rock and minerals to exist on it. So here you can see melting mountains, magma rivers and colossal volcanic eruptions. Moreover, the latter are so powerful that their ashes literally flies into space, or more precisely, it evaporates due to cosmic radiation.

Kepler-36b is a planet that every 97 days turns into a mess of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions

There are two sister planets: Kepler-36b and Kepler-36c. The first of them is a small, good-natured planet, 1.5 times the size of the Earth, and the second is an evil tyrant planet, a gas giant that constantly scoffs at its younger sister. Both of them revolve around one star in the constellation Cygnus, but their orbits are so close to each other that conflicts are inevitable. So, at every moment of rapprochement Kepler-36c suits Kepler-36b a real execution. With its gigantic force of attraction, it causes a real apocalypse from earthquakes and volcanic eruptions on the surface of a small relative. Unfortunately, poor fellow 36b does not even have time to take a break, as soon as the volcanoes stop erupting, her fellow tormentor appears again. And this happens every 97 days, as if on a schedule.

HD 189733b - a planet where it rains horizontally from glass at a speed of approximately 6,500 kilometers per hour

Externally, HD 189733b looks completely peaceful, it seems similar to the Earth and even suitable for living. But it’s so good that we were all taught from childhood that appearance is deceiving. After all, in fact, this planet is a deadly space torture for all interplanetary travelers. What is your prospect of falling under a shower of broken glass? So we think so.

How does this planetary-scale sandblasting machine work? The fact is that her atmosphere is filled with silicon particles that scatter blue light. But at the same time there is an incredibly high temperature, about the same as in the mouth of a volcano, because of which silicon particles turn into glass. And the planet begins to throw pieces of this glass in all directions at a speed of up to 6.5 thousand kilometers per hour!