The Impossible Planets That Survived a Supernova

[00:00:00]Since the discovery of the first exoplanets, all manner of weird and wonderful worlds have been found orbiting distant stars.

[00:00:10]From scorching gas giants that dwarf even the mighty Jupiter to worlds that are thought to be completely covered by deep global oceans of flowing water. And we have discovered a lot of them. Take a look at this NASA map. Every one of these circled locations is an officially confirmed exoplanet.

[00:00:32]And as of 2026, there are more than 6,300 of them. But it is the very first exoplanets discovered that are arguably still the strangest we have ever found.

[00:00:48]These are the so-called doomed planets.

[00:00:52]mysterious worlds born from one of the most violent and cataclysmic events the universe has to offer.

[00:01:02]Located around 2,300 light years away, this mysterious planetary system was officially called PSR B1257 +12. But it has been given a much more fitting name, the lich system. In old English, the word lich simply means corpse. And you couldn't get a better description of these planets.

[00:01:30]The planetary system was discovered in 1992 when astronomers were studying a type of rapidly rotating star called a pulsar. Pulsars are a testament to the immense power of stellar evolution. They are a type of neutron star that is born from the death of a once massive star much larger than the sun as it explodes in a catastrophic event known as a supernova.

[00:01:57]During a supernova, the outer layers of the star are blown away, leaving behind one of the densest objects known. An object with a mass of one or two suns squashed down to the size of a city.

[00:02:13]These stellar remnants only measure about 20 km across, but one sugar cube of their material on Earth would weigh more than Mount Everest.

[00:02:27]Pulsars rotate rapidly, sometimes completing one rotation in just a few milliseconds. The Lich planetary system pulsar rotates about 161 times every second and has a very strong magnetic field which is funneling jets of charged particles out along its two magnetic poles.

[00:02:49]This produces powerful beams of light that shoot out into space. And when these beams cross our line of sight, we can detect a pulse almost like it's turning on and off as the beam sweeps over Earth.

[00:03:03]It is from studying this pulse that astronomers using the now defunct Araibo Observatory accidentally discovered something incredible. After measuring the pulsar's pulse arrival times, they noticed some strange anomalies. This caused an extensive analysis which eventually led to the astonishing realization that they had identified not one but two exoplanets.

[00:03:31]planets never observed before outside of our solar system. Both of which are rocky worlds more massive than Earth but smaller than Neptune. They had discovered two super Earths orbiting the dead husk of a star.

[00:03:50]Then incredibly in 1994 a third moonsized exoplanet was discovered orbiting the same pulsar.

[00:03:59]Astronomers simply called the planets PSR, B1257 + 12 A, B, and C at the time, but later they were given much more fitting titles. Poltergeist, Phobore, and Drowger.

[00:04:16]This groundbreaking discovery marked the first confirmed detection of planets beyond our solar system. And although the discovery was met with both excitement and skepticism at the time, the findings fueled the search for further exoplanets.

[00:04:33]But many questions still remained about the newly discovered worlds, including how did they form? Because after further research, it was found that each planet orbited the Lich pulsar at incredibly close distances, far closer than most of the planets in our solar system. This means that they likely couldn't have formed before the pulsar formed. Any inner worlds should have been destroyed during the final moments of the previous massive stars life. So where did these mysterious exoplanets come from?

[00:05:10]While the precise details are still being investigated, there are a few theories that attempt to explain their formation. The leading hypothesis is that the pulsar wasn't actually created from a massive dying star after all, but instead from the merging of two white dwarf stars. These are the cause of sunlike stars that have exhausted all of their fuel. After this mighty merging, a resulting disc of gas and dust in orbit around the pulsar may have coalesed, eventually reaching planetary proportions.

[00:05:47]Other options are that they formed from the remnants of a supernova explosion or that the pulsar devoured a companion star, leaving enough material out in orbit for the planets to eventually form. However, the strong gravitational forces and intense radiation emitted by the pulsar would likely have a big impact on the formation of any planets.

[00:06:13]The close proximity of the exoplanets to the pulsar also raises questions about their ability to form in such an extreme environment.

[00:06:23]And so, could it be possible that the pulsar stole the planets from a wandering star instead, adopting them as its own?

[00:06:35]Whatever the origin story of these bizarre worlds, it is certainly a strange and possibly very rare one. As it stands, out of the more than 6,300 exoplanets discovered so far, only eight have been found to be orbiting a pulsar.

[00:06:52]And that includes Poltergeist, Phob, and Drower.

[00:06:57]But when it comes to exoplanet discovery, especially those made of rock, one of the main questions is whether life could exist there. Could some kind of creature be looking up at a rapidly rotating dead star with jets of light blasting out of it as it hangs in the sky?

[00:07:18]Although it would be an incredible sight, pulsars emit enormous amounts of radiation that life as we know it just couldn't survive.

[00:07:28]Charged particles would rain down on the planet's surface, potentially lighting up the night sky with beautiful aurora.

[00:07:36]But as it stands, it is very unlikely that anything is there watching it.

[00:07:43]Any life that did manage to get going here would be living under constant bombardment. And so it is far more likely that these rocky exoplanets are barren, dead worlds. But that doesn't mean that they are any less fascinating.

[00:07:58]These were the first planets ever discovered beyond our solar system. They were possibly born in the turbulent aftermath of one of the most violent events the universe has to offer. and they orbit one of the most bizarre objects ever studied.

[00:08:17]Poltergeist, Phobore, and Drager serve as beacons as we push the frontiers of scientific knowledge. What other worlds might we find out there lurking in the dark corners of the galaxy?

[00:08:38]This channel is researched, written, and narrated by me, a real human who actually check sources and cares about the stories behind each video. That's why I created the V101 Alliance, a membership offer that for less than the price of a coffee each month allows people who values this kind of content the chance to support it directly. and in return get meaningful perks.

[00:09:07]So, if you'd like to join this mission and become a part of the V101 Alliance, become a member today for just $2 by clicking the join button that's located next to the subscribe button. I'd love to welcome you and hopefully I'll be seeing your name in one of my future videos very soon.