- [Narrator] Earth is awesome.
What would be even more awesome,
if we found another earth, or a bunch of earths.
That's one of the things we're looking for at NASA
as we study exoplanets, planets outside our solar system.
But maybe searching for a planet similar to our own,
where conditions might have led
to an entirely unique origin of life,
finally telling us that we're not alone in the universe,
maybe that's not your thing.
That's cool.
Maybe you're more interested
in just how weird exoplanets can be.
We think there are entire worlds
covered by deep oceans, water worlds.
Not weird enough for you?
Okay. How about planets covered entirely in oceans of lava?
There are egg-shaped planets,
worlds that orbit so close to their stars
that they're pulled by gravity into a lopsided shape.
And there are planets where conditions might be just right
for it to rain things like glass,
or even rubies and sapphires.
There are planets that orbit pairs and even groups of stars.
Imagine having three or four suns in the sky!
On the opposite end of the spectrum,
there are the loners, rogue planets wandering out in space
with no star to call their own.
There are even planets that orbit dead stars,
stars that exploded long ago
and left behind a rapidly spinning core called a pulsar.
Some of these pulsar planets
could be among the oldest in our galaxy,
pushing 13 billion years.
Such planets would have witnessed
most of the history of the universe,
sadly, nearly all of it without tacos.
Now, we think that we haven't found one yet,
that there probably are exoplanets
pretty similar to earth out there.
But in the meantime, there are absolutely tons
of weird, wondrous worlds in our galaxy.
(jaunty music)