Western Society generally understands the afterlife as two distinct and different places where a person is sent to after expiring in this world: “Heaven” and “Hell.” Heaven is where people are rewarded after life, and Hell is where they are punished. Judaism, however, does not accept this idea of two different “places”. Rather, there is one afterlife called “Olam Haba” — “The World-to-Come”. Its nature depends on one's manner of conduct in this world.
I assume you were joking when mentioning it being a distant planet. I would describe it more as a new dimension of existence that is a direct upshot of the person’s this-worldly existence. An extremely insightful description of the World-to-Come is found in the writings of Rabbi Chaim Volozhin:
“The actions themselves of the person constitute the reward in World-to-Come. After the soul departs from the body it rises to take pleasure and satisfaction with the light, energy, and worlds of holiness that have been added and multiplied by his good actions. This is what the Sages meant when they said that “All of Israel have a portion to the World-to-Come” (We translate it as “in” the World-to-Come, but the literal translation is “to” the World-to-Come) and not “in” the World-to-Come. “In” implies that the World-to-Come is ready and waiting from the time of Creation, as if it where something with a separate existence, and if man warrants he will receive a portion of it for his reward (like a piece of candy waiting in God's pocket to be given to whoever deserves it). In truth, however, the World-to-Come is [made up of] the actions of the person, which he expanded and added and perfected into a “place” for himself to dwell… and so it becomes the “space” that he will occupy during the time of his reward.”
As you can see, this is a very complex subject; too complex to deal with in such a short column. I highly advise study of the following source texts for a better understanding of this fundamental topic: Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin in Nefesh HaChaim 1:12 and Rabbi Y.M. Tucazinsky in Gesher HaChaim (The Bridge of Life).
