Exoplanets and Extraterrestrial Life

摘要

This past month the discovery of exoplanets was in the news due to the awarding of the Nobel Prize in physics to James Peebles for theoretical discoveries in cosmology, and Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star (Nobelprize.org). An exoplanet is a planet that is orbiting a star other than our sun. Until recently, other planets and solar systems were just an idea, as we only had evidence of our own solar system. Our thoughts on planet formation stemmed from our observations of the eight planets, numerous moons, dwarf planets, asteroids and Kuiper belt. The scientific community looking for life beyond Earth has focused on detecting planets around other stars and evidence for life on those planets. The discovery of many different types of planets orbiting other stars has broadened understanding of how planetary systems and possibly life have developed.