The Exoplanet Zoo: The Strangest Worlds Beyond Our Solar System

The universe does not build planets the way we imagined.

Before 1995, our solar system was the only one we knew. Since then, astronomers have confirmed more than five thousand five hundred worlds beyond our Sun — and what they have found has overturned every assumption about what a planet can be.

The Exoplanet Zoo is a guided tour of the most extraordinary worlds in that catalogue: the fifteen planets and classes of world that have most dramatically expanded our understanding of planetary science. From hellworlds being torn apart by their own stars, to worlds where glass rains sideways at hurricane speeds, to a real-life Tatooine orbiting two suns, to planets wandering starless through the darkness between the stars — each chapter reveals a world that is, in its own way, impossible to forget.

• WASP-12b — a planet being eaten alive by its star, its year lasting just 26 hours
• HD 189733b — a deep blue world where silicate glass rains at 8,700 km/h
• 55 Cancri e — a lava world whose surface is a global ocean of molten rock
• TrES-2b — the darkest known planet, reflecting less light than coal
• Kepler-51b — a "cotton candy" world less dense than styrofoam
• TRAPPIST-1e — the most compelling candidate for life beyond our solar system
• Kepler-442b — the most Earth-like planet yet discovered
• ʻOumuamua — the mysterious interstellar visitor that broke all the rules

Written with the same clarity and wonder that has made Marcus Veylan's Space Science Series beloved by readers worldwide, The Exoplanet Zoo is an essential guide to the universe's most astonishing real estate — and what it tells us about the greatest question science has ever asked.