Planets so strange that they prompt a rethink of the “planetary rulebook.”:
PBS tells us that Hoth, the frozen planet in Star Wars, is not just imagination. It has a real-life counterpart among the exoplanets. Granted, astronomers call it OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb but even they think of it as “Hoth.” …
Astronomers had expected to see solar systems like our own but instead they demonstrated that there are other types of solar systems out there. Whether these exoplanets could host what we think of as life is another question.
News, “Among 5000 known exoplanets, there are some really strange ones” at Mind Matters News (May 14, 2022)
Various lists of strange planets are linked and discussed.
Takehome: To sum up, whatever we see or read about planets in science fiction, something out there is likely stranger still.
It will be most interesting to see how many of the more conventional exoplanets have life and if there is in fact a reliable formula for predicting it. Those who claim that Earth is just an ordinary planet are certainly wrong — but is Earth unique? The universe is fine-tuned, as is Earth, and that would be an argument for life on exoplanets.
You may also wish to read: Steve Meyer on why a supposed multiverse is no answer to the extreme fine-tuning of our universe. Meyer on multiverse cosmologists: “The speculative cosmologies (such as inflationary cosmology and string theory) they propose for generating alternative universes invariably invoke mechanisms that themselves require fine-tuning, thus begging the question as to the origin of that prior fine-tuning.”