BRENT: There are the planets we know about — Earth, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Neptune, Mercury, Uranus and Saturn — and the exoplanets well beyond our solar system that we’re trying to learn more about.
In fact, scientists have discovered nearly 2,000 exoplanets around the universe, and that number is only expected to rise with time. Earlier this week, NASA even released a mini-documentary about the search for exoplanets, which could possibly lead to the discovery of extraterrestrial life, if such a thing exists.
All this being said, one creative 17-year-old designer, Martin Vargic, took to the Internet to visualize and share what hundreds of exoplanets might look like in space via an infographic. The result is a beautiful collage of 500 extra worlds that is getting people talking around the Web, as spotted by Fast Company Design.
“I based the looks of each planet chiefly on its estimated radius and temperature, however, other factors, such as density, age or stellar metallicity were also taken into consideration,” Vargic told Fast Co. Design. “The colors of gas giant planets were chosen to be as realistic as possible, reflecting the different cloud compositions of hotter gas giants.”
As Vargic alluded to, the exoplanets are arranged by average temperature on the X-axis and by mass density on the Y-axis in this infographic.
Even though there’s a lot to see within this infographic, Fast Co. Design points out that it only represents about 25 percent of all known exoplanets, meaning it won’t remain fresh for long. Still, it’s a sight to see, especially when zoomed out in all its glory.
