In the seven years since the Kepler space telescope was launched, astronomers have confirmed a couple thousand exoplanets in a single batch of sky in the Milky Way Galaxy, including a few planets very similar to Earth and Venus. Just two months ago, NASAannounced the largest batch of new planets ever discovered with 1,284 confirmed exoplanets at once.
“Before the Kepler space telescope launched, we did not know whether exoplanets were rare or common in the galaxy.” Paul Hertz, Astrophysics Division director at NASA Headquarters.
Throughout modern history, scientists believed that there were other planets out there, but Kepler was the crucial tool required to prove that hypothesis. Because of data from Kepler, scientists now know that planets could be even more frequent than stars in the universe.
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