For many years scientists have studied our own solar system. The force of Another planet, called Kepler-16b, turns out to orbit two stars. Our solar system is just one specific planetary system—a star with planets orbiting around it. In all cases, they found the planets not by taking pictures of them, but rather by detecting their astonishingly gentle tugs on the stars they orbit. This may seem surprising, as the Sun is one of about 200 billion stars (or perhaps more) just in the Milky Way galaxy alone. Even though the planet is tiny compared to the star, extremely sensitive instruments can measure the tiny change in brightness. Given how many they have found in our own neighborhood of the Milky Way galaxy, scientists estimate that there may be tens of billions of solar systems in our galaxy, perhaps even as many as 100 billion. The page may contain broken links or outdated information, and parts may not function in current web browsers.I have a question from our young friends at the Mountain Home Air Force Base Youth Activities Center in Mountain Home, Idaho. The mass distribution within the Milky Way closely resembles the type Sbc in the Hubble classification, which represents spiral galaxies with relatively loosely wound arms. When I was young, this was one of many topics that I spent a great deal of time wondering about. Grote Reber. Image credit: Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech.In another planetary system, called TRAPPIST-1, there are not one…not two…but This illustration shows what it might be like on the surface of TRAPPIST-1f, one of the seven planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system.

The Milky Way consists of a bar-shaped core region surrounded by a warped disk of gas, dust and stars.

This may seem surprising, as the Sun is one of about 200 billion stars (or perhaps more) just in the Milky Way galaxy alone.

And the stars, along with any planets under their control, are so far away that picking out a faint planet near a distant star is like spotting a mosquito next to a brilliant searchlight miles away.Marc Rayman at age 14 meets astronomer Peter Even so, this question brings up some thrilling ideas.For many years scientists have studied our own solar system. That gives scientists plenty of places to hunt for In this illustration, you can see three young planets tracing orbits around a star called HR 8799 that lies about 130 light-years from Earth. For example, if the orbit of a planet happens to be aligned so that planet occasionally travels in front of the star from our perspective on Earth, it blocks some of the light. An illustration that shows what it might look like to stand on the surface of Kepler-16-b. Although the star holds the planet tightly in its gravitational grip, the planet also exerts a gravitational pull back on the star, and that is what astronomers measure. Though accurate at the time of publication, it is no longer being updated. While Kepler primarily searched within one particular patch of the sky, TESS is observing the entire sky to locate thousands of planets orbiting the nearest and brightest stars.The James Webb Space Telescope, set to launch in 2021, will also observe many of the exoplanets we have discovered and help scientists reveal details about these distant worlds.Who knows? Using regular visible light telescopes, planets are very hard to see in the glare of a star. Disclaimer: This material is being kept online for historical purposes. Their suspicions were confirmed by the Spitzer Space Telescopeobservations in 2005 that showed the Milky … Image credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechNASA’s Kepler mission found more than 2,600 exoplanets during its nine year mission. It has also made a list of more than 3,000 additional potential exoplanets that astronomers need to study more carefully to be sure that they are indeed planets.NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission is continuing the hunt for exoplanets. One day, by studying exoplanets and distant solar systems, astronomers hope to answer the intriguing question: Is there life elsewhere in our galaxy? Astronomers first began to suspect that the Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy, rather than an ordinary spiral galaxy, in the 1960s. That means that picking out a planet near a distant star is like spotting a firefly right next to a brilliant lighthouse miles away.Spotting an exoplanet around a faraway star is like spotting a firefly next to a lighthouse.

Image credit: Gemini Observatory Artwork by Lynette CookEven our closest neighboring stars are trillions of miles away. Many of the 4,000+ planets so far discovered in distant star systems in the Milky Way are "water worlds" according to new research. With all those other stars, why haven't scientists studied other solar systems, at least enough to know how many are in our galaxy? The light from the lighthouse is so bright that you would have a hard time spotting the flicker of a firefly. They wonder how many solar systems are in our galaxy. Perhaps someday you will help find the answers. Some of the intriguing questions these missions might help answer are how common are other solar systems; is our solar system typical, with giant planets like Jupiter and smaller ones like Earth; how do solar systems form and evolve; are there other planets capable of supporting life; and is there life on other planets?

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