NASA and G. Bacon (STScI)

Imagine a huge thermometer,

we are pretty close to the bottom
not as low as
Jupiter or Neptune
bluest of the blue,

but a little higher, between
water freezes and water boils
closer to freezes,

on that imaginary glass device
with Fahrenheit on one side

going up the thermometer past lead melts
is Mercury, brighter than Sirius
and Venus, bright queen of the sky

then nothing
until the thermometer registers

molten lava and gold melts,
and suddenly,
there they are

five glowing exoplanets
orbiting their stars
every three to five days,

one of them light
as Styrofoam