10 Craziest Planets In The Universe

Now we are getting into the tantalising territory of the terrifying: a planet that seemingly eats light.

WASP-12b is a planet twice the size of Jupiter. It can be found orbiting the star WASP-12 in the Auriga constellation, around 1410 light years from Earth.

Due to gravitational interactions between the star and planet, one side always faces the star. This is known as being tidally locked (much like the Moon is to the Earth). This means that the “Day Side” of the planet gets a lot more heat, which causes immense windstorms across the planet. But this is not the scariest thing WASP-12b does.

One of the darkest known exoplanets ever found, this planet absorbs more than 94% of the star’s light that hits the “Day Side”, refusing to reflect the light back. This heats the atmosphere to an unbelievable 4,600 Celsius - 8312 Fahrenheit - making this the hottest known exoplanet discovered.

Nevertheless, the plucky star is getting its own back. Astronomers estimate that the planet will be completely eaten by the star within the next 10 million years, as it slowly strips away at the planet’s atmosphere.