As I’m recording this video near the end of 2019, the total number of confirmed exoplanets stands at 4,104. We’ve come a long way since the discovery of the first exoplanet orbiting a sunlike star back in 1995 with 51 Pegasi b.
And the reality is that the race to find new exoplanets is only accelerating. New ground and space-based telescopes are turning up planetary candidates at an increasing rate. New techniques will find planets in entirely new ways. The bottom line is that over the next few decades, this mere 4000ish will multiply by orders of magnitude.
So let’s run the clock forward and try to calculate what the future holds for exoplanets. How many worlds will we know about 3 decades from now, in the year 2050?
Our Book is out!
https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Today-Ultimate-Viewing-Cosmos/dp/1624145442/
Audio Podcast version:
ITunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/universe-today-guide-to-space-audio/id794058155?mt=2
RSS: https://www.universetoday.com/audio
Weekly email newsletter:
https://www.universetoday.com/newsletter
Weekly Space Hangout:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0-KklSGlCiJDwOPdR2EUcg/
Astronomy Cast:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUHI67dh9jEO2rvK--MdCSg
Support us at https://www.patreon.com/universetoday
More stories at https://www.universetoday.com/
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/fcain
Twitter: @universetoday
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/universetoday
Instagram - https://instagram.com/universetoday
Team: Fraser Cain - @fcain / frasercain@gmail.com
Karla Thompson - @karlaii / https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEItkORQYd4Wf0TpgYI_1fw
Chad Weber - weber.chad@gmail.com
References:
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1911.12114.pdf
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/mooreslaw.asp
http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/51pegb/
https://sci.esa.int/web/plato/-/42276-summary
https://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/eelt/
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/habex/
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013A%26A...556A.133S/abstract
https://sci.esa.int/web/gaia/-/58788-detecting-exoplanets-with-astrometry
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1707.01348.pdf