In 2022, astronomers set a record for discovering more than 200 planets around the universe.
This year, astronomers made a significant discovery when they discovered over 200 additional planets outside of our solar system. Thus, less than 5,000 exoplanets were found by scientists in 2022 alone. Hence, there will be 5,235 exoplanets by the end of 2022.
The mission to find additional exoplanets has benefited from the advent of the James Webb Space Telescope, which has brought amazing results. Therefore, the Space Telescope, which continues to be in use, was replaced by the most potent observatory sent into orbit, and it started relaying its first cosmic photographs in July. However, the $10 billion telescope’s primary objective is to investigate the star-life cycle. Thus, outer planets or galaxies outside the solar system of Earth are a major area of investigation as well.
One of the things that came out is that the outer planets are a diverse group of worlds in terms of their makeup and features. Thus, some are tiny and rocky, while others resemble Earth quite a bit.
In a tweet, NASA stated that they started the year with fewer than 5,000 confirmed exoplanets. There are 5,235 planets known as of the end. One of the major topics was Earth and Mars, which are rocky planets that makeup around 4% of the solar system.
Thus, the most recent planet, HD 109833 b, was found by astronomers in 2022. Therefore, it is an exoplanet that resembles Neptune and revolves around a G-type star. However, by employing the transit technique, the astronomers located it.
There were two major outer planets that were found to contain only water. Water was still not explicitly found, but by measuring the dimensions and weights of the systems according to models, scientists conclude that about half of their content must be formed of substances that are denser than protons or helium yet lighter than rock. Water is the most prevalent of these potential materials.