Exoplanets

Beyond the Solar System there are more planets. These exoplanets could orbit binary stars, brown dwarfs, a stellar remnant, or just remain free floating in space.The real turning point was in 1995 when Micheal Mayor and Didier Queloz identified an object known as 51 Pegasi. This object turned out to be as large as Jupiter. Since then, close to about 1,000 exoplanets have been discovered. There could possibly be more. The universe is an immense place. Some of these newly discovered planets could be Earth like. The possibility of extraterrestrial life becomes even more of a reality. The exploration of space and exoplanets  creates a new sense of wonder and excitement.

       The characteristics vary between exoplanets. There are some that have molten surfaces. Other exoplanets could be covered completely with ocean. Some could have rocky cores and be  twelve times the size of the Earth.This has become major news for the field of astrobiology. No longer a topic of science fiction, life could be active as we speak. The Kepler Spacecraft was launched in 2009 with the goal of finding Earth like extrasolar planets.The mission has produced many results. These are but a few new planets beyond the Solar System.

  

Kepler22b

The other Kepler planets

51 pegasi