• Question: have you found any new planets and if you have what are they called?

    Asked by olivetree123 to Guy on 2 Mar 2018.
    • Photo: Guy Rixon

      Guy Rixon answered on 2 Mar 2018:


      Not yet. Plato, the planet-finding mission on which I work, hasn’t been launched yet: it won’t go up until about 2026. Space telescopes take a *long* time to build and prepare.

      Most of the exoplanets found so far are ugly, hot places very close to dim, red stars. Not at all like Earth, and if you had a starship you probably wouldn’t want to go there. Plato will find more Earth-like planets.

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