The 5 Coolest Planets Orbiting Distant Stars : Part-2

3. 2M1207b is cool for a surprisingly obvious reason: We can actually see it. While the vast majority of exoplanets are detected indirectly–by the slight dimming of their star, which we see when the planet crosses in front of it–this exoplanet is enormous and close enough that we can directly image it using infrared light. 2M1207b also has a fascinating creation story: Unlike the planets in our solar system, which formed out of a disc of material left over from the formation of the Sun, 2M1207b seems to have formed out of the gravitational collapse of a separate, giant nebula sometime in the distant past. 4. WASP-12b won’t be with us much longer. The hottest exoplanet ever discovered (at roughly 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit)orbits so closely to its star that it is literally being consumed by the heat and pull of gravity. Since the planet was discovered in 2008, scientists have detected that it is gradually being pulled into an oblong, football shape by its star; they now estimate that it has some 10 million years left to live. Additionally, the planet is the first one discovered that is home to significant quantities of carbon, the essential building block for lifeas we know it. 5. Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f are extremely intriguing for one particular reason: The pair of planets, part of the same star system, both appear to be roughlythe same size as Earth . Although they are far too close to their star to be capable of supporting life (their average temperatures are 1,400 and 800 degrees Fahrenheit,respectively), the planets may have migrated inward over time, indicating that they could have been home to extraterrestrial life sometime long ago. Reaching the Kepler system by space shuttle would take about 36 million years—but if we somehow made the journey, there might be some rather interesting fossils to find