Astronomers Discover Highly Weird Exoplanet Group Mysteries DOCUMENTARY These Planets shouldnt exist

There are about 400 billion stars in our galaxy. There are approximately 100 billion planets in it. Of these, how many are Earth-like? There is an atmosphere on the Earth. Geomorphology is complicated. Rivers flow. Life abounds. Numerous photons race past the Earth as astronomers look for answers. It gives rise to new theories about the formation and evolution of planets. One of the oldest debates in science has only been exacerbated by what they find. What role does biology play in cosmic evolution? Could life be rare in the universe? Our galaxy is characterized by violence and mayhem. Our gaze has been fixed on the heavens for millennia, hoping to find some evidence of life beyond Earth. A new era of astronomy in modern times has revolved around a quest for life-bearing planets. Our planet is in the 21st century. Thanks to giant observatories equipped with precision instruments, we can now detect planets in solar systems throughout the galaxy. The search has been greatly expanded by a whole new way of seeing. Communication has been shaped increasingly by computers. Transportation, agriculture, commerce, production. Every two years, we can double the processing power on a computer chip. Moore's law describes this phenomenon. Science has accelerated as a result. Large-scale supercomputing facilities have emerged to search for patterns and hidden signals in the torrent of data streaming from telescopes. Photographs and measurements were once the sole focus of astronomers in cold observatories across countless lonely nights. Currently, you're analyzing data and writing computer programs, as well as building simulations of star formation and planet formation. The discoveries of these two scientists have reignited one of the oldest disputes in science to the Greek philosopher Aristotle. However, this is far from concluding that we are alone. The Earth is a perfect planet, firmly positioned at the center of a minor, orderly universe. There were no other creatures in the universe beyond the gods. There was disagreement. According to Epicurus of Samos and his followers, there were an infinite number of inhabited worlds among the stars. A continuously evolving cosmos has given rise to an immense variety of creatures. This is also true for the descendants of Epicurus in modern times. Life-bearing worlds are abundant in our galaxy, as well as the possibility of alien civilizations. It's just a matter of finding them. Astrophysicists have already discovered that stars like our Sun are standard and that planets the size of Earth can support liquid water when they are at the proper distance from their parents. Billions of them, in fact. Another view, reminiscent of Aristotle, has also taken hold. A lot of time and effort is required for biology. Earth may indeed be an anomaly, an oasis of life amidst the desolation of space. You decide. Frank Drake, an astronomer and modern-day Epicurean, suspected that signs of alien intelligence could be streaming by us as radio signals back in the early 1960s. Green Bank, West Virginia, hosts a radio telescope. Tau Ceti, about three-quarters our Sun's size and mass, and Epsilon Eridani, a yellow star 10.5 light-years away. Ceti has expanded to hundreds of astronomers since Drake began his research in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. There are hundreds of stars. As well as a wide variety of radio frequencies, Epsilon Eridani, Tau Ceti and nearby stars have been checked and rechecked. After six decades of searching, no anomalous signals or repeating messages have been found. However, the search continues. New places and new techniques are available for searching. Drake is still looking for calls. Some observers are trying to observe planet signs directly. Piet van de Kamp, a Dutch-American astronomer, examined stars for evidence. Comparing photographic plates taken over three decades, he discovered some nearby stars seem to move as if being pulled by unseen massive forces. Van de Kamp claimed to have found an orbiting planetary system around Barnard's star, a red dwarf in the neighbourhood of our Sun. Other warblers were also seen nearby. The fourth closest visible star to us is Eridani, which lies among Leyland 21, 85 and 61 Cygni. The findings of both camps failed to withstand scrutiny. One telescope malfunction rendered his results inadmissible. However, his gut feeling was that there were many planets in the Milky Way. The astronomers were surprised to discover what they hadn't expected. Arecibo's engineers discovered structural flaws in the colossal radio telescope in the winter of 1991. A freeze was ordered. Because of this limitation, Alex Wilson and Dale Frail were able to observe collapsed stars, a pulsar that spins rapidly. This happens a lot. Each revolution causes it to flash. They had 6.2 flashes per second on one of their targets. But the timing wasn't predictable. Two dense rocky planets pulling on each other could explain the complex pattern of its flashing faster and slower. Later, a smaller third world emerged, a trio of zombie planets rotating around a dead star. These aren't the only pulsar planets in the universe. More than 2.5 times heavier than Jupiter, the most giant planet in our solar system, Methuselah, rides above the Milky Way. A white dwarf and a pulsar orbit Methuselah in orbit lasting 100 years. These discoveries challenged a broad range of theories about the evolution and formation of solar systems. These discoveries also shed light on how planets such as Earth form. It is called the solar nebula model and has been around for over 2.5 centuries. The explosion of a giant star sets in motion this universal model. Massive hydrogen gas clouds collapse due to shockwaves from the blast. A computer simulation demonstrates what happened next. As the dust and gas streamed into the center of a cloud, vast amounts of dust accumulated. As the cloud packed tighter, the hotter it became. Thunder erupted. Dust, gas and ice crystals form a raging hurricane, the eye of the storm. A star ignites when the temperature rises. Matter streams toward the central region, causing it to become a rotating disk. Winds whipped by the newborn star shape this disk. The internal zone was dominated by dust and rocks as lighter gases were pushed to the outer zones. Then planets began to form. Beyond what is known as the frost line, as planets absorb gas, dust and ice, they grow enormously. Dust grains and rocks coagulate inside the frost line, forming solid bodies called planetesimals, most of which are about a kilometer wide, but some are much larger. The bodies converge to form larger bodies. The planets we see today are formed as a result. Eight eventually emerged to spin in peace around the Sun. This has happened ever since. This is what our solar system has shown us. Astronomers predicted that planets similar to Earth, Venus and Mars would form in the sooty inner zones, where iron and silicon would melt and flow together to form solid planetary cores. Gas? That's cool. The frosty zone would be farther out on worlds like Jupiter and Saturn. As ammonia, methane and water condense into minor planets, they grow in size as their gravitational pull attracts lighter elements. Farther away, as the gaseous hydrogen was captured by the older, more massive worlds, icy titans like Neptune and Uranus would crystallize. These conclusions were confirmed by the data rapidly. This marked the dawn of a new era in the search for planets. Astronomers examined a young star in the constellation Pictoris. They found a big new world. Beta Pictoris is two times as big as the Sun. There are two orbits around the planet. One is significantly warmer. This orbit is almost nine times as bright. Our Pluto's orbit is four times that of its dense solar disk. Waves of turbulence have been created by passing stars tugging on the disk. Because Jupiter is so far from the Sun, the situation is becoming increasingly chaotic. A NASA simulation depicts a top view of the planet. Gravity on the planet sends a stream of debris spiraling toward the star. The slightly tilted orbit creates pressure waves that curl toward the principal. As a result of these waves, icy and rocky bodies collide while traversing the disk. In places like Beta Pictoris, new models of the solar system would have to consider many factors. They would have to take into account the size of the solar nebula. They would have to consider the type of parent star. Influence from outside planetary interaction as well. Planet discoveries piled up as astronomers witnessed this dynamism. Several teams studied star wobbles caused by planets orbiting around them. The star's color will change as it moves towards us, from blue to red and back to blue. A world that orbits very close to its star can be detected, even if it is very far from us. The Swiss astronomers Michael Meir and Didier Carlo examined the star using the radial velocity method in October 1995. Pegasus 51. The star is 50 light-years away from Earth. 51 Pegasi's diameter is 23% wider, and its mass is 11% greater than our Sun's. There was a giant planet 47% less massive than Jupiter, but one and a half times the size of Jupiter based on the swaying motions in its light. That planet, called Medium, was a surprise to everyone. The orbit of its star is eight times closer than that of Mercury. By 1500 degrees Celsius it's hotter than Jupiter. When did it become so hot? During its formation. A string of oddball worlds patrolled the inner solar systems of 51 Pegasi. The worlds were rocky giants with deep oceans, gas-filled planets, ice-covered planets, or lava-lined worlds. These discoveries led to the perception that our solar system is an anomaly. To better understand the various types of planets and the processes they use to form in larger systems, a star's population needs to be observed and distinguished in fine detail for astronomers. A new planet-hunting technique was developed in 2009 using spacecraft, telescopes, and supercomputers. Does this indicate Earth's uniqueness? What if there were inhabited worlds in the galaxy following the Epicurean model? A great Kepler telescope was pointed at an area containing about 500,000 stars, some more than 3,000 light-years away. Their goal is to detect when the planet sails across a star's face that it dims slightly. The planet has to orbit along the line of sight between the star and telescope for the technique to work by using this transit method. Nearly 2,700 new planets have been discovered by Kepler astronomers with the help of citizen scientists on the World Wide Web. Transiting exoplanet survey satellite, the successor to Kepler, TESS looks at the brightest stars near Earth, sweeping the entire sky virtually. Due to TESS's revelations about planet types, Aristotle is swinging back to his side. In surveys like this one, giant planets tend to orbit close to their stars. These missions would have become more active and are working with ground-based observatories and Hubble Space Telescope. There are similarities between Jupiter and 51 Pegasus. Some are losing their atmospheres rapidly due to intense solar winds. The Kepler data suggests that planets the size of Jupiter and more extensive account for just under a fifth of all known worlds. Neptune-sized planets account for about half of all known planets. Those with ice or rock cores, water, ammonia and methane gas from the surrounding atmosphere. Carbon diamonds the size of boulders might rain downward toward their stony hearts inside. A few have been found near their suns. Some were previously Jupiters that have been depleted of mass. A gas giant that was flung inward by a larger cousin. Observations show, however, that these mini-Neptunes give way to dense rocky worlds that dwarf our planet at a point smaller than two Earth radii. There are 18% of exoplanets discovered so far are neat piles of Earth. The Kepler-22b super-Earth orbits in the habitable zone of its star. Perhaps the planet is a water world with a massive rocky core clinging to a deep global ocean. The planet orbits its star closely. Almost eight times as massive as Earth, planet 55 Cancri is a rocky world. Surface temperatures are sweltering at 2000°C. The orbital size of Kepler-452b is similar to Earth's. It appears as a star like the Sun. Since the planet is roughly five times larger than Earth, it will probably be darker than Venus. Lastly, there are the planets the size of Earth. Life cannot exist on approximately 11% of Earth's surface. The TESS satellite discovered these planets. There are 4953 light-years between HD21 and Earth. Our Sun is 70% as big as HD21. We live in its world. C maintains an orbit so close to Earth that its year lasts just 8 days. It has a rocky surface, likely to hover at 400°C. Located 23 times the size of Earth, planet B is a hot mini-Neptune. Situated in a thick cloud layer, its temperature is about 150°C. S3844 is orbited closely by this planet, 1.3 times as massive as Earth. The surface of the Earth would be covered with pools of lava if a year lasted only 11 Earth days. Last but not least, the Sun-like star Pi Mensa is accompanied by a planet twice the size of Earth. 900°C is its surface temperature. However, as observational and computational techniques advance, there is hope that Earth-like planets might be found. The galaxy has the reddest dwarf stars. Seeing them is difficult. Compact, lightweight, very faint, planets orbit closer to each other. The years between them are passing quickly. The nearest star to our Sun is Proxima Centauri. It has only 2% the brightness of the Sun despite having only 12% of its mass. After studying the lead for more than 18 years, scientists have confirmed the presence of at least one planet the size of Earth. In less than 11 days, Proxima Centauri b will complete its orbit. As the Earth revolves, water could be liquid at a distance. Red dwarfs are known for their stormy temperaments, and Proxima Centauri is no exception. Any atmosphere its planets may have is likely eroded by heavy flares that emit X-ray and ultraviolet radiation. Proxima Centauri b, a member of the eyeball Earth breed. A planet orbits its parent star so closely that it becomes gravitationally bound. This planet always faces its parent star. This planet always faces outward. A side of the Earth is always dry and scorched by solar flares. A thick ice blanket covers the other. Is it possible to find a watery ring with fertile land and lifeforms in the twilight zone between them? Maybe. At least seven planets are orbiting Trappist-1, all nearby. Although all are made of rock, their density indicates the presence of a lot of water. It puts out just five one-hundredths of our Sun's light, despite its diameter being just 11% that of the Sun, 1% the size of our Sun. A source of heat is also available, such as tussling siblings. There is a tug-of-war between the planets. They heat up from within due to tidal friction. Nearby planets are likely hot and steamy. Distant worlds are likely icy. It is possible to find liquid water on the fourth planet out, which is smaller than Earth. It is unlikely to have advanced civilizations. With time, astronomers will be able to discover more worlds farther from their stars using space telescopes or ground-based instruments. It has already changed theories about the formation of our solar system. This will drastically increase our chances of finding other life-bearing planets. We will be able to see our star glowing soon after. The icy, gas-rich region beyond Jupiter's frost line gives him this new perspective. As a result, it slows the formation of rocky worlds in the inner solar system by cutting off the flow of matter. With the help of supercomputers, researchers have projected Jupiter's path through the early solar system, which is filled with countless small objects. Saturn's rings illustrate various planets' orbits. Their collisions are marked by flashes. Jupiter's orbit is indicated by the blue ring. Jupiter responds more and more to the gravitational pull of the expanding sun as it grows. This is in addition to the forces Saturn exerts on Jupiter. The orbit of Jupiter begins to contract. Like a sailboat turning into the wind, Jupiter begins to contract its orbit. This inward motion is known as the excellent tack. It is not something to swallow by the rising giant. It flies away from the solar system or pushes toward the sun. Previously smooth orbits become disordered swarms as chaos reigns. Jupiter reaches a trajectory similar to that of Mars today. As a result, Saturn begins to pull Jupiter away from the sun. The inner solar system's mass would have been drastically reduced using Jupiter's excellent tactic. A super-Earth would likely have been obliterated or driven into the sun. It was bound to be a relatively small planet that formed or survived. By ferrying large numbers of icy bodies, Jupiter's disastrous foray may have sowed the seeds of life. Mars may not be able to support life anymore due to destructive impacts. There is still hope for Earth. Scientists theorize that a Mars-sized world called Theia struck the Earth during our planet's early years. The impact angle did not destroy the young Earth, but generated debris that would coalesce into the Moon. With time, Earth's orbit was slowed by the Moon's gravity, and the Earth's spin remained steady. During the early stages of life, the Moon's gravitational pull helped churn the seas, creating conditions for the emergence of life. The sun was also a contributor to the emergence of life. Saturn was also a contributor. The gas giant forced Uranus and Neptune to the edge of interstellar space. It flung millions of comets towards the sun, disrupting their orbits. A massive amount of water is believed to have been delivered to our young world by these icy projectiles. Pete van der Kamp and Frank Drake examined one of the first planetary systems. Their arrangement was strikingly similar to our own. Our Oort cloud is about the same size as Epsilon Eridani's cloud of icy debris resulting from the system's formation. As an analogy, our Kuiper belt is the second disk of rocky bodies. We also think of a gas giant planet orbiting at the edge of a ring of asteroids similar to Jupiter, guarding the central belt of our solar system. We do not yet know how it works. Perhaps it's like our world. For many years, scientists have searched for habitable zones around stars to find other piles of Earth. Habitable zones would be places where Earth-sized planets could settle into stable orbits. The atmosphere, ocean currents, volcanism, and other factors that breed life here would have had plenty of time to develop. Our solar system's tangled history implies that life-bearing planets are confined to a few fortunate circumstances. Therefore, some astronomers try to restructure the search to focus on locating specific conditions conducive to life. Habitable planets may differ from Earth in many ways. They belong to a different class. A superhabitable planet may exist approximately one and a half times as large as Earth. A brown dwarf star orbits it more relaxed and longer-lasting than the sunset in its star's habitable zone. There is abundant water on the planet. It has a strong magnetic field generated by its molten interior. A dense atmosphere traps cosmic rays and solar radiation that can harm life on Earth. Dry landforms are produced by geological activity and kept low by erosion. When conditions are stable for long periods, chemistry and energy will come together to spawn life and have a habitable climate. Researchers have compiled a list of 24 superhabitable planets with these general properties from the thousands of extrasolar worlds discovered so far. How can we tell if there is still living there or still life on any other candidate? In the future, telescopes will be equipped with instruments to measure oxygen, methane, and other biological markers in the atmospheres of stars. Researchers may be able to take pictures of planets using ground-based observatories, allowing them to learn about their rotation, meteorology, environment, climate, life on Earth. With Aristotle's skepticism, our world might remain uniquely unique even without evidence like this. The New Epicureans have a different viewpoint based on ever more powerful technologies. Our galaxy has so many planets that scientists are convinced we cannot be the only ones in it. They would become curious about their place in the universe when intelligent life evolved on our planet. They would not be the only ones. These planets' inhabitants are likely studying images of a yellow main-sequence star. A fantastic circular orbit encloses a tiny pale blue dot. Could they be on the verge of finding the second Earth? Intelligent life may communicate across the voids of space. Will they wonder or will they speak? This will require analysis of their data and planet formation models. Can their data be analyzed to support life? Exoplanets are planets that orbit other stars. Planets orbiting other stars are called exoplanets. Exoplanets are thought to orbit most stars. A prime target for life beyond Earth is these worlds. Become an advocate for the Roman Space Telescope, NASA's new exoplanet mission, donating to the Planetary Society. Additionally, you can support our efforts to locate 100 exoplanets the size of Earth around nearby stars. What are the benefits of studying exoplanets? For centuries we have been fascinated by fictional depictions of planets orbiting other stars. Humans have always been fascinated with exotic, far-off worlds, from Arrakis in Dune to Yoda's planet Dagobah in Star Wars. Exoplanets exist outside of the solar system. The number of exoplanets is quite impressive. Scientists have discovered over 4,000 of them and believe that every star has its own solar system. The atmospheres of some exoplanets resemble the fictional worlds of our imaginations, while others have become more exotic than anything we could have imagined. We estimate that over 100 billion galaxies in the universe, each with hundreds of billions of stars. The universe may have billions of trillions of planets, if most stars have one or more planets around them. Exoplanet discoveries provide us with new insights into the universe. Our understanding of planetary systems in the cosmos was limited by studying the eight planets in our own solar system. The field of planetary science now spans a broader horizon than ever before, with more than 4,000 exoplanets catalogued. Other solar systems also form from time to time, which helps us learn about our own origins. Watching through the world's telescopes is like watching our own version of how it's made. We should learn about exoplanets for several reasons, but perhaps the most compelling is the possibility of finding another world with life. Thanks to continual advances in exoplanet research, the discovery of exoplanets could happen during your lifetime. We might change the course of history if we discover life beyond Earth. Proxima b, an exoplanet. The exoplanet Proxima b orbits the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to Earth. There are similar temperatures on the surface of the planet as on Earth, and it lies in the habitable zone of its star, the region where the temperature is not too hot nor too cold for liquid water to exist. Studying exoplanets. How does it work? Despite powerful telescopes on the ground or in space, stars appear as tiny points of light. Planets are even more minor and harder to spot than their bright host stars. Scientists rely on indirect methods to determine whether planets are orbiting stars, such as looking at the stars themselves. We have moved from merely being able to detect whether a star has a planet to actually seeing the characteristics of exoplanets as these techniques have evolved. Our increasingly sophisticated technologies allow us to determine the mass and diameter of exoplanets and whether they are solid, gaseous, or even have water vapor in their atmospheres. Currently active exoplanet missions. The Hubble Space Telescope. Characterizing the Exoplanet Satellite. CHEOPS. Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. Observations will begin soon with JWST. Exoplanet missions to come. The Roman Telescope. NASA has announced a new mission called the Roman Space Telescope, RST, which will discover Earth-sized rocky worlds as early as 2025. Three recent NASA budget proposals attempted to cancel RST, but failed. Finding planets that resemble Earth is one of the main goals of exoplanet research. Earth-like worlds are often described as having similar characteristics to our own. In general, this means that our planet might have liquid water and an atmosphere suitable for life. Even on Earth, life is extraordinarily diverse, and we don't even know what life is like on other planets. To begin with, however, we should seek out worlds similar to ours. Are they larger or smaller than Earth? When reading news about exoplanets, it is essential to distinguish between Earth-like and Earth-sized worlds. Just because a planet is as giant as Earth doesn't mean it can support life. Hello, Venus! Where can we look for planets like Earth? The position of a planet about its star is the most critical factor for maintaining liquid water. A world's surface can have liquid water if it is in a habitable zone, not too close to the star so that all the water evaporates, nor too far from it so that all the water freezes. There is also a Goldilocks zone. Ambient temperature is not too high nor too low. The distance between a planet and its host star and the star's temperature indicate whether the world is in the habitable zone. More significant hotter stars have a farther habitable zone than smaller, more excellent stars. In our Milky Way galaxy, there could be up to 40 billion planets in the habitable zone. To date, roughly 20 planets have been discovered. It may seem like a small number, but consider this. Maybe we have already seen a world where life exists, but we haven't found it yet. What methods do we use to determine whether or not a planet is habitable? Are they habitable or inhabited? What would they look like if you could see our Sun and Earth from a few hundred light years away? Today, we might be able to determine that Earth is a small rocky planet in the habitable zone of the Sun. To rule out that the Earth isn't a dry desert planet like Mars, you could check for signs of water in its atmosphere. We cannot perform this task with our current technology, but future ground-based and space-based observatories will be able to. If Earth is habitable by then, you might conclude it is. To determine if there is life on the surface, you would need to look for gases in the planet's atmosphere like ozone, which are possible byproducts of life. Several proposed space telescopes may be able to do so, but our current and near-future telescopes will not be able to. You probably couldn't say with certainty if you discovered life. It could require something like a telescope utilizing our Sun's gravity as a giant lens to capture a clear picture of an exoplanet and see if it has life on its surface. Although the technology may seem unreachable, we are not far from it. How can you advance research on exoplanets? Deborah Fisher, one of the world's top exoplanet scientists, has been supported by Planetary Society members since 2009. Thanks to these projects, we are much better able to search for Earth-like exoplanets. Fisher and I have worked together since 2009 on exoplanet projects. You helped fund FINES, an instrument that detects wobbles caused by Earth-sized exoplanets orbiting around stars, and Exoplanets Laser, a cutting-edge telescope calibration system. The Alpha Centauri star system, the closest to Earth, has been searched for exoplanets. Fisher and I are collaborating on finding 100 Earth-like planets. Our organization's members and supporters are fundraising to replace a photonic crystal fiber, PCF. While it may sound like science fiction, lightsabers in Star Wars are not powered by PCFs. A PCF is an ultra-sensitive cable used to transmit light. Fisher's teams use it to send light from the Lowell Discovery Telescope and a solar telescope into the Exoplanet Laser Calibration Device Planetary Society, which was developed by research members funded in 2014. Fisher's work will end if the cable is not replaced soon, since it degrades with every use. We also need your support for NASA's next exoplanet mission, the Roman Space Telescope. The Trump administration cancelled the mission three times, despite being the highest priority task for astronomers this decade, citing a lack of funding. Earlier this year, the Planetary Society sent Congress a statement urging it to fund the mission through 2020. However, Congress had to reject those proposals again in 2021, since those proposals were rejected the past two years. Earth's Neighboring Worlds – Exoplanets Exoplanets younger than 1 million years old have been discovered. 420 light-years away, Koku Tau IV is the youngest exoplanet discovered. It orbits a star less than 1 million years old. A gap in the dusky disk that girdles the principal indicated the planet's presence. As Earth orbits the lead, it likely clears a space in the dust ten times the size of the Earth's orbit. Exoplanets exist outside our own solar system. Thousands have been discovered over the past two decades, mainly with NASA's Kepler Space Telescope. In addition to finding a Sun-like star in the habitable zone, NASA and other agencies are looking for a planet the same size as Earth. Various sizes and orbits characterize these worlds. Planets circling their parent stars can be enormous, icy, or rocky. The habitable zone is the distance from a star at which a planet's temperature allows liquid water to exist in its oceans, a necessity for life on Earth. In the past, the habitable zone was defined by simple thermodynamic equilibrium alone. However, current calculations include many other factors, such as the greenhouse effect of a planet's atmosphere. As a result, their boundaries are uncertain. In August 2016, astronomers announced that they may have discovered such a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri. According to researchers, the newfound world, known as Proxima b, is about 1.3 times larger than Earth, suggesting it is rocky. The planet is also within the habitable zone of its host star, a distance of 4.7 million miles, 7.5 million kilometers. An orbit takes 11.2 days to complete. Consequently, the exoplanet is tidally locked, showing the same face to the star it orbits, similar to the Moon showing only one face to the Earth, the near one. The Kepler Space Telescope has discovered most exoplanets, a telescope that began working in 2009 and is expected to finish working in 2018 when its fuel runs out. According to Kepler, there are currently 2,342 confirmed exoplanets and perhaps 2,245 others. Observatories have discovered 3,706 planets in total. Discoveries from the beginning Astronomers were convinced exoplanets existed for years before their discovery in the 1990s. Jamie Matthews, the astrophysicist at the University of British Columbia, explained that it wasn't just wishful thinking, but due to how slowly our Sun and other stars like it spin. He was involved in some early exoplanet discoveries as the mission scientist for the Occasional Exoplanet Telescope Observer, MOST, micro variability and oscillations of stars. Our solar system had an origin story according to astronomers. A spinning cloud of gas and dust, the proto-solar nebula, collapsed and created the Sun and the planets. With the collapse of the cloud, conservation of angular momentum would have meant the now Sun would have spun even faster. In contrast, the worlds have 96% of the angular velocity of the solar system, while the Sun has 99.8%. This puzzled scientists. Solar disks formed from swirling gas that would have been in contact with the young Sun's strong magnetic field. During the formation of the Sun, these field lines connected with the charged particles in the gas and acted as anchors, slowing down the spinning of the forming Sun while spinning up the gas into the planets-to-be. Due to the Sun's slow rotation, scientists surmised that planets formed due to the same magnetic breaking. Therefore, planets must exist in the solar system. The first two exoplanets were discovered around PSR 1257 plus 12, a pulsar, rapidly spinning corpse of a star that died as a supernova, in 1992 due to this and other reasons. In 1995, 51 Pegasi b, a Jupiter-mass planet 20 times closer to its star than the Sun, was confirmed as the first world orbiting a Sun-like star. This surprised scientists. A different, strange discovery had already been made seven years earlier, hinting at the abundance of exoplanets. Transcribed by ESO, translated by —