Forget the habitable exoplanets—here are some of our galaxy’s freaks

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  55 Cancri e. [credit: NASA ]

Let's face it, when it comes to the search for planets outside of our Solar System, Earth-like worlds get all of the attention. We want to know where life may exist elsewhere in the galaxy, right? And where better than water-bearing, moderately warm, reasonably sized planets around nice, steady stars?

Even so, what is perhaps more remarkable than the search for habitable worlds is the diversity of planets scientists have found. NASA has now confirmed more than 4,000 exoplanets by two or more discovery methods, and the agency has another 4,600 candidates as potential planets.

All told, NASA has identified more than 3,000 planetary systems, finding planets of all shapes and sizes around all manner of stars. And there are some weird worlds out there. For example, there is the exoplanet TrES-2b, which is larger than Jupiter and orbits a star located 750 light years from our Sun.