NASA has created a map of more than 4,000 exoplanets, or ‘exoplanets, known outside our Solar System. This is a video in chronological order showing how many exoplanets were discovered each year, starting with the first official determination in 1992.
The video uses sound and light to highlight other planets. The Milky Way galaxy we’re in draws a giant U-shape along the center band, and we see that the main stars of the planets appear with the pink, purple colors. Directly viewed exoplanets appear orange in the video, while the other planets appear in green, using the effect of the light of a star in the background.
The Kepler satellite discovered about half of these first 4000 exoplanets in just one part of the sky. The discovery of planesets not only gives us an idea of the potential for life elsewhere in the universe, but also helps us better understand how our Earth and Solar System came into being.
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