The study of planets outside the solar system was one of the hottest corners of the science world in the 2000s, a decade that saw the known tally of exoplanets increase by more than a factor of 10. By the end of 2009, more than 400 worlds had been discovered in the young field of study, and the scientists working on NASA's Kepler planet-hunting mission were preparing to announce the first discoveries of their recently launched spacecraft.
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