Considering how long we've been looking (not very) and the obtuseness of our detection methods/instruments until very recently, that is a LOT. I find this stuff indescribably moving.
Our blue dot is becoming paler by the minute.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140226153355.htm
And here's a graphic showing expolanet discoveries by over time. Love me a good exponential:
Our blue dot is becoming paler by the minute.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140226153355.htm
NASA's Kepler mission announced Wednesday the discovery of 715 new planets. These newly-verified worlds orbit 305 stars, revealing multiple-planet systems much like our own solar system.
Nearly 95 percent of these planets are smaller than Neptune, which is almost four times the size of Earth. This discovery marks a significant increase in the number of known small-sized planets more akin to Earth than previously identified exoplanets, which are planets outside our solar system.
"The Kepler team continues to amaze and excite us with their planet hunting results," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "That these new planets and solar systems look somewhat like our own, portends a great future when we have the James Webb Space Telescope in space to characterize the new worlds."
.......
For more information about the Kepler space telescope, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/kepler
And here's a graphic showing expolanet discoveries by over time. Love me a good exponential:
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