There are places in this universe that are very different from the planet you and I inhabit. Take, for example, Ordep in NGC 5194 (the Whirlpool Galaxy). Ordep isn't a planet; it's a black dwarf star that has cooled to the point that it can sustain life. The universe is too young for black dwarfs to develop, yet, so the existence of Ordep is a fluke. Even more unusual is the fact that an explosion on Ordep, as it was cooling down, sent a hot asteroid flying into the depths of Ordep's only planet, a massive gas giant. This hot asteroid caused a thermonuclear explosion in the deuterium of the gas giant, which touched off sustained hydrogen fusion. Thus in this system, the inhabitants live on the star and are sustained by light from a burning planet.
The intelligent species found on Ordep is aware of their plights: the planet will burn out before long and their world is steadily cooling. They seeking to relocate, provided they can find a new world that is uninhabited and that can support their unique metabolism.
These illustrations were drawn using Stable Diffusion XL.
