It can be safely said that the past year has been a great year for astronomers. In addition to taking the first images from James Webb, the space telescope has also managed to capture some of the best space images of 2022 during its six-month run this year. Also, astronomers have discovered more than 200 new planets in 2022, bringing the total number of known exoplanets to over 5,000.
The quest to find another world like Earth has been going on for decades, and the technology and techniques we use to explore planets have continued to evolve throughout this time. With the launch of the James Webb space telescope at the end of 2021, astronomers have finally taken a big step forward in their quest to discover more exoplanets.
As a result, the total number of exoplanets we have discovered has increased to 5,235, with 200 new planets discovered in 2022 alone. Many of these planets have been found using various space exploration missions such as the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Arrangement in Chile, the James Webb telescope, and more.
Only in wool 4 is rocky
Even more interestingly, only about four percent of these 200 new planets and about 5,000 other exoplanets we’ve confirmed are believed to be rocky worlds like Earth and Mars. The rest are more similar to gas giants like Jupiter and other types of planets that are unsuitable for human exploration with our current technology.
As the list of new planets discovered in 2022 continues to grow, it also includes its own array of super-Earths, possibly larger rocky worlds than our own, and smaller counterparts of Neptune in our Solar System, amusingly called mini-Neptunes.
In this year’s discoveries, astronomers noted two planets believed to be water worlds, as well as an exoplanet orbiting its star. In addition to discovering many new planets in 2022, we’ve also learned more about exoplanets we’ve already found.
For example, astronomers have taken a closer look at planets like GJ 1252b, which was discovered two years ago, and this could make the search for alien life easier. Other new exoplanets found this year could also change everything we know about planet formation.
The James Webb space telescope is currently in operation and continues to work throughout the next year, as the number of new planets discovered in 2023 is likely to increase the list created this year even faster.
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