Saturday, 14 January 2012

Cumulative exoplanet count since 1989

Since 1989*, hundreds of extrasolar planets have been discovered and there's a massive back catalog of unconfirmed planets. Given the enormous improvements in detection methods, the growth of the scientific field itself (more 'eyes on lenses'), and sheer amount of stars in our universe, we can expect to see more and more planets discovered every year. Using data from the Extrasolar Planet Encyclopaedia, this is the cumulative exoplanet count so far:


If this exponential trend continues in 2012, we may see the 1000 count by the end of the year!

(*First exoplanet was discovered in 1989 but only confirmed in 2003; the real excitement didn't start until 1995)

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