Far beyond the eight familiar planets in our solar system, countless bizarre and extreme worlds await discovery — and some have already been found.
Thanks to rapidly advancing telescope technology, astronomers have detected more than 5,600 planets outside our solar system. These exoplanets, as scientists call them, are worlds of lava, and worlds of water. They're worlds being ravaged by the heat of their stars, and worlds locked in eternal night. There are worlds that look like they were stolen straight from "Star Wars," and worlds that may hold exotic forms of life never dreamed up in science fiction.
