Over 5000 Exoplanets Have Been Discovered So Far

Recently, NASA’s JPL announced the number of confirmed exoplanets had surpassed 5000. It hasn’t been that long since science was only aware of a handful of planets outside our solar system. The number of confirmed exoplanets ticked past 5000 on March 21, when 65 new exoplanets were added to the tally.

The exoplanets have been confirmed using multiple detection methods and various analytical techniques. The range of exoplanets discovered runs the gamut from small and rocky planets like ours to gigantic gas giants many times larger than Jupiter.

One of the strangest types of planets out there are known as hot Jupiters that orbit extremely close to their parent star and have insanely high temperatures. Some of the planets orbit binary pairs meaning they would have two suns.

The more exoplanets are discovered, the more science realizes that many stars in the night sky have planets orbiting them. The galaxy is believed to hold hundreds of billions of exoplanets waiting to be discovered.