More Than 200 Exoplanets Discovered In 2022!

The global hunt for exoplanets has remained focused on finding a planet like Earth that contains elements of life. The concept of planets beyond our own solar system, or exoplanets, has captivated the public for decades. And with the advances in technology in recent years, we are now able to detect and study these distant worlds in ways that were once unimaginable. In this regard, 2022 was a year of extraordinary success, as astronomers from across the globe discovered over 200 planets beyond our solar system, some of which are poised for further investigation by the James Webb Space Telescope and others. Since the beginning of the planetary survey outside our Solar System, the exoplanet database contained less than 5,000 planets when the year began. In this video, let’s take a look back at the most exciting exoplanet discoveries of 2022.

In a recent tweet, NASA stated, “We started the year with fewer than 5,000 confirmed exoplanets.” We end up with 5,235 known worlds. About 4% are rocky planets like Earth or Mars. What will the new year bring? More planets!” So far, the exoplanet catalogs offer a diverse spectrum of planets in terms of composition and features. Small, rocky planets like Earth, gas giants many times the size of Jupiter, and hot Jupiters in dangerously tight orbits around their stars are among them. Meanwhile, the list includes “super-Earths,” which are potentially larger rocky planets than our own, and “mini-Neptunes,” which are smaller copies of our system’s Neptune. But what exactly are exoplanets, and why are we searching for them?