Most of us know the eight planets in our solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Pluto used to be the ninth, though it was declassified to dwarf planet status in 2006. What many people don’t realize is just how many exoplanets are also spinning around out there. Our solar system is packed with all manner of interesting objects, but it isn’t alone in this. There are many other planets out there, orbiting stars similar to our own sun.
What are Exoplanets?
According to Nasa, an exoplanet is a planetary body that exists beyond our own solar system. Some of them orbit other stars (i.e. their suns), but some — known as rogue planets — are free-floating, independent objects that aren’t tethered to stars at all. Furthermore, scientists have confirmed over 6,000 exoplanets thus far! That said, they believe that billions of others exist out there, just waiting to be found.
Let’s take a look at some of the ones we’ve already discovered.
Enaiposha (GJ 1214 b)
If you aren’t familiar with Enaiposha yet, you’re not alone. It was discovered in December of 2009, and was originally assumed to be a water world due it its vibrant blue hue. In fact, it was this assumption that gave this object its name. “Enaiposha” means “stormy waters” in Maasai, which is spoken by indigenous people in Tanzania and Kenya.
Scientists now believe that Enaiposha is more like Venus, with a thick, gaseous “envelope” of helium, hydrogen, water, carbon dioxide, and methane. It orbits a red dwarf star (named Orkaria) that’s located approximately 47 light years away from Earth.
Ammonite
If you’re already familiar with ammonites, you know that they’re the fossils of extinct marine mollusks. Astronomers have discovered a small, icy world beyond Pluto that they’ve named “Ammonite” because it appears to be the fossil of an ancient time. Researchers from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan believe that this object has had a stable orbit for around 4.5 billion years. This is why it’s been nicknamed after a fossil: this object’s path has been preserved since the birth of our solar system.
Sedna
In 2003, scientists discovered a large object beyond Neptune’s orbit. This turned out to be a dwarf planet, which was named “Sedna“, after the Inuit goddess of the sea. It’s approximately 1,000km in diameter, is composed of solid ice, and it takes approximately 11,400 years to complete a single orbit around our sun. Since it doesn’t have its own moons, scientists have yet to determine this planet’s mass or density.
Additional Dwarf Planets and Exoplanets
Ceres
The dwarf planet Ceres is named after the Roman goddess of grain and agriculture. It’s found in the primary asteroid belt between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars, and is within our own solar system. Ceres seems to be formed primarily of rock and ice, with the possibility of liquid water beneath its surface.
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Kepler-452b
This exoplanet has been referred to as “Earth 2.0” or “Earth’s cousin”, due to its similar characteristics. It orbits the star known as Kepler-452, and appears to be within that star’s habitable zone. This makes it a potential candidate to support life as we know it. Additionally, it’s the only planet in this system to be discovered using the Kepler space telescope (thus far). This planet is located in the Cygnus constellation, and is approximately 1,800 light years away from Earth.
Eris
Eris is a trans-Neptunian object, which means that it orbits our Sun at a greater average distance than Neptune. It’s the second-largest dwarf planet in our solar system (thus far), and has the greatest mass of them. The easiest way to describe its size is that its surface area is comparable to South America or Russia.
This exoplanet was discovered in 2005, and a year later it earned its name: “Eris”, the Greco-Roman goddess of discord and strife. Apparently this name was chosen because of the number of arguments this object caused between astronomers. Eris also has a moon named “Dysnomia” (a type of aphasia that causes word-related memory loss). Interestingly, this exoplanet is the largest known object in our solar system that spacecraft hasn’t visited yet.
174567 Varda
Tolkien fans will recognize this name as the Queen of the Valar who created the stars. The size of this object hasn’t been confirmed yet, so it may still be designated as a dwarf planet. It lies in the Kuiper belt, and has a moon named Ilmarë, after Varda’s Maiar handmaiden. Both Varda and its moon were discovered in March of 2006, and named shortly thereafter. Varda orbits our Sun every 313 years.
Poltergeist (PSR B1257+12 B)
You may be familiar with this term because of the horror films of the 80s, but this exoplanet isn’t anywhere near as scary as those movies. Its name means “noisy ghost” in German, and was chosen for this object because it orbits a “dead” pulsar star named “Lich” (official name PSR B1257+12). It was one of the first exoplanets discovered beyond our solar system, found in 1994 by David Frail and Alexander Wolszczan. Poltergeist is located in the Virgo constellation, approximately 2,300 light years away from Earth. Like our own planet, it has a solid surface. That said, it’s more than four times larger than Earth, and orbits its own star every 66 days.
Draugr
Also named after a type of ghost (in this case, a sort of undead wraith from Norse mythology), Draugr is one of Poltergeist’s close neighbors. It also orbits Lich in the Virgo constellation, and has approximately twice the mass as our moon.
Phobetor
Like its siblings Draugr and Poltergeist, Phobetor orbits Lich (named after a powerful undead creature from mythology) in Virgo. Its name is drawn from the Greek god of nightmares, which is on brand with the ghostly names that share its orbit. These exoplanets challenge astronomers’ current understanding of where and how planets form and exist. This is because Lich is a pulsar star, which theoretically should not be able to support planetary creation.
These are just a few of the amazing exoplanets that exist within our sphere of observation. If you’re interested in learning more about them, consider checking out the following links:
NASA Exoplanet Catalog
All About Exoplanets on Space.com
National Geographic
BBC Sky at Night
Featured Image: Exoplanet GJ 1214 b and Its Star (Illustration), © NASA, ESA, CSA, Dani Player (STScI), used with Public Domain permissions via Wikimedia Commons. The material was created for NASA by Space Telescope Science Institute under Contract NAS5-03127.
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