Humanity Surpasses 5,000 Discovered Exoplanets... Full-Scale Search for Life Begins [Reading Science]

NASA Discovers 65 New Exoplanets Added to Archive
James Webb, Ariel, and Other Next-Generation Space Telescopes Search for Potentially Habitable Planets

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] The number of confirmed exoplanets discovered by humanity has surpassed 5,000 in 30 years. NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) plan to accelerate their search for more planets using instruments such as the James Webb Space Telescope, while also intensifying efforts to explore the existence of planets capable of supporting life.

On the 21st (local time), NASA announced that it had identified 65 new exoplanets outside our solar system through space telescopes and added them to its own catalog, the 'NASA Exoplanet Archive.' NASA records exoplanet discoveries reported in peer-reviewed scientific papers, using various detection methods and analysis techniques from ground-based and space telescopes.

The planets discovered by NASA so far range from small, rocky planets like Earth to gas giants several times larger than Jupiter, as well as 'hot Jupiters' with surface temperatures reaching thousands of degrees. Jessi Christiansen, a scientist at NASA's Exoplanet Science Institute, said, "(The 5,000 count) is not just a number," adding, "Each exoplanet is a new world and a new planet in itself. It is even more fascinating because we know nothing about them."

While there are hundreds of billions of planets in our galaxy, humanity began detecting planets outside the solar system in 1992 by measuring changes in electromagnetic waves emitted by pulsars (rapidly rotating neutron stars) to find planets orbiting nearby. NASA launched the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) in 2018 to continuously explore planets beyond the solar system. The James Webb Space Telescope, launched at the end of December last year, is expected to detect planets on the outskirts of the galaxy by capturing infrared light that penetrates gas clouds. In particular, NASA plans to launch the 'Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope' in 2027 to discover new exoplanets using various methods.

The European Space Agency (ESA) also plans to launch ARIEL, a next-generation exoplanet observation telescope, in 2029 to focus on observing the atmospheres of exoplanets. It will primarily study the chemical composition and thermal structure of exoplanets to find answers about how stars form and evolve. Especially, the ARIEL telescope will measure the temperatures of exoplanets to determine whether they have environments capable of supporting life like Earth.