Several planets and colorful nebulae fill a star-scattered expanse of deep space
PHOTOSTOCK-ISRAEL/Science Source

Far-Out Worlds

Read a short STEM article about exoplanets.

By Nell Durfee and Corryn Wetzel
From the October/November 2026 Issue

Standards

Imagine finding a planet that rains glass. What about one covered in hot lava? Or a planet that glows pink? 

It might sound like science fiction, but these planets exist! They’re all exoplanets, which are planets outside our solar system. Exoplanets usually orbit, or travel around, stars. Scientists are finding new ones all the time. 

More than 30 years ago, scientists used a powerful telescope to spot the first exoplanet. Since then, telescopes have gotten better and better. Now scientists have discovered more than 6,000 exoplanets! 

“We wondered for hundreds of years if there were planets around other stars,” says astronomer Emily Rice. Now we know the answer is yes.

The hunt for more exoplanets—and for life on them—is still on!  

PECULIAR PLANETS

Explore some wild worlds beyond our solar system! 

ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser


55 CANCRI E
: It would be impossible to walk on this exoplanet without burning up—the surface is made of hot lava! 

NASA/Goddard/S. Wiessinger


GJ 504 B: This puffy pink planet is made of gas, like Jupiter, but it’s four times as massive! Scorching temperatures (460ºF) give it a rosy glow.

NASA, ESA, M. Kornmesser


HD 189733 B: Deadly weather has a whole new meaning on a world where it rains glass! To make matters worse, a fierce wind blows up to 5,400 miles per hour. Ouch!  

NASA/JPL-Caltech


KEPLER-16 B: Can you imagine watching a sunset with two setting suns instead of just one? This big, cold exoplanet orbits two stars—and has no solid surface to stand on. 

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