NASA announced that the 5,000th exoplanet was discovered, providing a massive foundation for its continued search for alien life, a post from NASA explains.
An exoplanet is any planet found beyond our solar system, that may or may not be (like Earth) in its system's habitable zone. Though NASA has thousands of exoplanets — from hot Jupiter-like gas giants to planets orbiting neutron stars — in its archive, it has likely only scratched the surface of what's out there.
The first two exoplanets were confirmed in 1992, changing our perspective on the cosmos, and leading to an influx of investigations into the possibility of life on other planets. Now, on March 21 this year, a new batch of 65 exoplanets was discovered and added to the NASA Exoplanet Archive, taking the total to 5,005.
"It’s not just a number," said Jessie Christiansen, science lead for the Exoplanet archive and a research scientist with the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute. "Each one of them is a new world, a brand-new planet. I get excited about every one because we don't know anything about them."
To read more, click here.