The Discovery Of Exoplanets: A New Frontier In Astronomy

First seen in WIRED:

Astronomers have made tremendous progress in discovering planets beyond our solar system, known as exoplanets. The last planet found in our solar system was Pluto, discovered by Clyde W. Tombaugh nearly 100 years ago. However, in 1992, a new planet was discovered orbiting another star, marking the beginning of exoplanet exploration.

Since then, over 6,000 exoplanets have been cataloged, with names like HD 189733b, a planet with extreme conditions, including molten glass rain and winds reaching 9,000 kilometers per hour. The challenge in detecting exoplanets lies in their distance and dimness. Telescopes have limited resolving power, and even the Hubble Space Telescope can only detect a giant Jupiter-sized planet at a distance of 590 billion kilometers, which is a mere 0. 06 light years away.

The nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is 4. 25 light years away, making it difficult to detect planets using traditional methods. Another obstacle is the dimness of planets, as they reflect much less light than their host stars. During the day, Jupiter is invisible from Earth due to the overwhelming brightness of the sun.

It was almost 100 years ago that Clyde W. Tombaugh discovered Pluto. That was the last planet found until 1992, when humans found another one.

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