NASA confirms over 5,000 exoplanets

By Handan Kazanci

ISTANBUL (AA) - NASA announced a scientific high point as more than 5,000 planets are confirmed to exist beyond the solar system.

“65 new worlds push the number of exoplanets confirmed by @NASA above 5,000,” the agency wrote Monday on Twitter. “This represents 30 years of exploration and discovery by astronomers worldwide using telescopes on the ground and in space. We are living in an age of discovery!”

In a statement, the agency described the shapes of the planets as “small, rocky worlds like Earth, gas giants many times larger than Jupiter, and ‘hot Jupiters’ in scorchingly close orbits around their stars.”

“There are ‘super-Earths,’ which are possible rocky worlds bigger than our own, and ‘mini-Neptunes,’ smaller versions of our system’s Neptune,” it added

“It’s not just a number,” the statement said, citing Jessie Christiansen, science lead for the archive and a research scientist with NASA’s Exoplanet Science Institute.”

“Each one of them is a new world, a brand-new planet. I get excited about every one because we don’t know anything about them,” added Christiansen.

NASA describes an exoplanet as "any planet beyond our solar system."

“Most orbit other stars, but free-floating exoplanets, called rogue planets, orbit the galactic center and are untethered to any star,” it said.