• Question: How many Earth-like exoplanets have you found? :)

    Asked by paigeanderson to Sara on 15 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by prentice7r2.
    • Photo: Sara Imari Walker

      Sara Imari Walker answered on 15 Jun 2011:


      Hi Paige! I haven’t personally discovered any exoplanets. But that would be an amazing thing to do! I do have some friends that work in this field, so-called “planet-hunters”. It sounds like its a pretty cool area to be in, they find new planets every week! The current count (just checked!) is 531 exoplanets around 445 stars (some have multiple planets). The technology is new, so the number is still small but growing! No Earth-like planets (nice warm temp, liquid oceans) have been detected yet – that’s the holy grail for my planet hunter friends. Can’t wait for that day. It will be exciting!!

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