A water world ruled by octopus-like creatures.
A planet divided by light and dark where the sun never rises.
And a lava hell where molten rock rains from the sky.
These are not descriptions of foreign worlds in science fiction novels, these are some of the ‘exoplanets’ most likely to be harboring aliens right now.
Dozens of these exoplanets – planets that orbit stars outside our solar system – which have been classified as ‘potentially habitable’ or ‘Earth-like’ have been
They are often depicted as either little green men, bug-eyed creatures or terrifying monsters intent on wiping out all life on Earth.
But if aliens do exist, what might they actually look like?
MailOnline asked a number of experts what they think — both for potential extraterrestrial life within our own solar system, as well as on distant exoplanets in faraway galaxies.
Among the wide-ranging answers were features such as big brains, enormous wings and gravity-induced spindly frames, while ‘crab
Among all the wonderful scientific achievements in 2022, astronomers have found more than 300 exoplanets – planets that are outside our solar system.
NASA confirmed in March that there are now more than 5,000 known exoplanets, but this is only a small fraction of those that exist in the Milky Way alone.
As of Thursday, this number now stands at 5,235 – up 351 from exactly a year ago – although experts have discovered new facts about already-known exoplanets too.
It blew the minds of the scientific community when the first batch of James Webb’s spectacular images were revealed to the world this week.
But attention has already turned to what the $10 billion (£7.4 billion) telescope could capture next — with potentially habitable exoplanets expected to be near the top of that list.
NASA has not officially revealed the new set of targets for its super space telescope, but Webb is understood to have observed a protostar — or
Spectacular and groundbreaking snapshots of the early cosmos gripped the world earlier this week when NASA released the first images from its new super space telescope.
James Webb captured an unprecedented look at a ‘stellar nursery’, a dying star cloaked by dust and a ‘cosmic dance’ between a group of galaxies, along with hints of water vapor in the atmosphere of a remote exoplanet.
What is even more exciting, however, is that astronomers say this is just ‘the tip
Excitement is building today ahead of the release of the first set of unprecedented images from NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope.
UK astronomers say they could include ‘some of the most detailed and beautiful pictures of the universe ever seen’ — with nebulae, an exoplanet and galaxy clusters all among the first objects captured.
The images will offer a ‘completely new perspective’ of our place in the stars but will also be just ‘the tip of the iceberg’.
Scientists
It has been 30 years since the first planet beyond the solar system was discovered, and to date more than 5,000 have been found – but are they all alien worlds?
Scientists have been examining the thousands of exoplanet discoveries confirmed within the Milky Way Galaxy, and three of them have turned out to be stars.
A team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, looked through planets discovered using the NASA Kepler Space Telescope, double checking the measurements
Astronomers have obtained ‘the clearest view yet’ of the perpetual dark side of a ‘hot Jupiter’ exoplanet, which they claim hosts iron clouds, titanium rain and winds that dwarf Earth’s jetstream.
The planet, called WASP-121b, is a massive gas giant nearly twice the size of Jupiter that is around 850 light years from Earth.
WASP-121b has one of the shortest orbits detected to date, circling its star in just 30 hours.
It is tidally locked, meaning the same side always
Astronomers have discovered dozens of previously unknown exoplanets orbiting distant stars, including hot Jupiter planets and ‘Super Earths’.
Among the worlds discovered this year are a huge exoplanet in orbit around one of the most massive and hottest two-star system ever seen.
Researchers also found multiple rocky worlds within the habitable zone of star systems, where it could be possible life has evolved.
MailOnline compiled a selection of some of the most interesting, strange and unexpected exoplanet discoveries of the
