This handout image obtained from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) shows an artist’s impression displays TRAPPIST-1 and its planets reflected in a surface. Scientists have discovered 100 exoplanets. Photo: AFP
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https://scmp.com/news/world/article/2133563/get-ready-some-galactic-context-almost-100-new-exoplanets-discovered World
Get ready for some ‘galactic context’ as almost 100 new exoplanets discovered
This handout image obtained from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) shows an artist’s impression showing the view from the surface of one of the planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system. Photo: AFP
The universe just got a little more crowded.
Nearly 100 new exoplanets – planets outside our solar system – have been discovered, scientists announced in a new study published on Thursday.
Using powerful telescopes, exoplanets can be detected as they orbit around their star, which causes a subtle dimming of starlight.
These most recent exoplanets were spotted using Nasa’s Kepler space telescope, now in orbit around the Earth.
Though the spacecraft had a major mechanical failure in 2013, scientists were able to reconfigure it to enable it to keep watching for exoplanets.
“We started out analysing 275 candidates of which 149 were validated as real exoplanets,” said study lead author Andrew Mayo, a PhD student at the Technical University of Denmark. “In turn, 95 of these planets have proved to be new discoveries.”
Since the first exoplanet was discovered in 1995, about 3,600 exoplanets have been found, ranging from rocky Earth-sized planets to large gas giants like Jupiter.
But this is only the tip of a very big iceberg. Astronomers say there are likely hundreds of billions of exoplanets in our galaxy alone.
An undated handout photo made available by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) on February 5, 2018 shows an artist's impression of several of the planets orbiting the ultra-cool red dwarf star TRAPPIST-1. Photo: EPA-EFE
“Exoplanets are a very exciting field of space science,” Mayo said.
“As more planets are discovered, astronomers will develop a much better picture of the nature of exoplanets which in turn will allow us to place our own solar system into a galactic context.”
The research was published on Thursday in the Astronomical Journal.