Exoplanets And Their Dangers We tend to think of our planet as being the norm for planets in our galaxy, but this could be the furthest thing from the truth. We regard our planet as a beautiful place, but would an alien being think the same thing? He might come from a place which is completely different and regard that place as the ideal planet. For one thing, the atmosphere might be completely different on our world as compared to his world and the alien might need breathing assistance, assuming that he had to breathe. The temperature might be another problem. It might be either too hot or too cold for comfort for an extraterrestrial and there is a possibility these temperatures could be too dangerous for one. The gravity of our planet might be to strong or too weak for this being. The reason I mention these things is planets come with a huge variety of features and many of them would kill us instantly if we were on them, but does this mean there could be no extraterrestrial life existing on them? We should not judge things entirely by our needs for survival. The discovery of exoplanets has led to some interesting insights about the environments of other worlds. A planet which is said to be about 390 light years away was discovered by European astronomers, and one of the things which was claimed by the astronomers was the planet was so hot when it rained, the rain was made of iron droplets. The planet was said to be the size of Jupiter. It certainly was nothing like the earth. The planet has been named Wasp-36b. It certainly is not the only planet which was discovered which would be inhospitable to us. As a matter of fact, we don’t even have to go out of our solar system to find planets and moons which are either entirely or partially dangerous for human life. The reason I say partially for some is the fact the planet Mercury which is the nearest to the sun is extremely hot on the side facing the sun, and extremely cold on the other side, but there is a temperate zone in between where human life might be able to exist with some assistance, such as breathing devices and maybe spacesuits. One exoplanet which was discovered is named Kepler-10b. It was discovered with the Kepler telescope, therefore its name. The planet is very close to its star which has been named Kepler-10. Being too close to a star most likely means a planet will be under extreme pressure from the star’s heat and radiation. It was felt this discovery was extremely important and was described as “a bridge between the gas giant planets we been finding and the earth itself.” There is probably no way humans could ever live on a world like this and it certainly wouldn’t bear any resemblance to the earth except for its shape. One exoplanet which has had oxygen and carbon in its atmosphere is HD209458b which has been named Osiris. The name itself conjures up all sorts of meanings. This name has been associated not only with the ancient Egyptians but also with our space program. When this planet was discovered it was the first one with oxygen and carbon, but new equipment such as the Webb telescope will be utilized in searching for exoplanets and it will have new capabilities. Because of these capabilities, we may be able to find a lot more planets with oxygen in their atmospheres. One thing we know about this planet is it is only 4,000,000 miles away from its sun as compared to our earth which is 92,000,000 miles away from its star. This does not bode well for Osiris being habitable, or being very earthlike other than the fact oxygen exists. Just because we discover a planet which is considered to be in the habitable zone, in other words its location is in an area where humans could exist, doesn’t necessarily mean it would be habitable at all. There is a lot to consider. The first thing is does the planet have a habitable atmosphere? There are certainly places which might seem habitable at first glance, which could have corrosive atmospheres. There might even have a poison one. We have to remember we are examining these atmospheres from incredible distances and while it is possible to get some information about some of them, that information is far from complete. HD189773-Ab is an exoplanet which is approximately 63 light years from our solar system. It is a very blue planet and the reason for this is thought to be the presence of magnesium silicate. It orbits an orange dwarf star. The material magnesium silicate is said to be about the same as talc. Winds of 6000 miles an hour are blowing the talc around the planet, making it a truly hellish place. The temperature of the surface of the planet is 1500°Fahrenheit. Scientists claim there is a constant horizontal rain of hot sand which would destroy anything on the planet in mere seconds. Reading about this planet certainly makes one realize even with all its problems, the earth is an incredible place. One exoplanet which has been discovered is incredibly unusual, even more so than the ones I have discussed already. It is a planet which is so dense it is made out of material harder than diamonds. The planet has been designated as PSR J1719-1438 b. Since it has 330 times the mass of earth one can only imagine how powerful the gravity would be on that world. On top of this the planet is orbiting a pulsar which is a rapidly rotating neutron star. To give you an idea of how fast the star rotates, it is an incredible 5.8 milliseconds. It is said while it is doing this it is emitting very strong magnetic fields. On top of that deadly x-rays and gamma rays are being ejected. It is believed there is no chance any type of life could ever exist on this planet, but since we know so little about other life and space, maybe we should say instead, no life we know of could ever live on this planet. What awaits us in space as we branch out from our own solar system? Certainly, many dangers will be encountered and there will be times when humans will not survive them, just as they were times when humans explored the great oceans of the world and some of them were lost. If the human race does survive long enough, it no doubt will find other worlds to colonize, and because of it our race may just go on forever.
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