The nine year survey recently completed by astronomers found one Earth-sized rogue planet and the second discovery of its kind. The study also analyzed the survey data and concluded that rogue planets are more abundant than all other planets in our galaxy. Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/discoveries/trillions-of-worlds-without-stars/.

One of the big questions we are trying to answer in exoplanet astronomy is: Just how common are habitable planets? We already know that exoplanets themselves are extremely common: Astronomers tell us there are on average 1.6 planets for every star in our galaxy, so there are more planets than stars out there. But what about life? Habitable exoplanets? Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/science/how-common-habitable-exoplanets/.

Kelt-9b is a gas giant planet that orbits a star 670 light-years from Earth. It is so close to its star that its dayside temperature is 7,800 degrees Fahrenheit (4,300 degrees Celsius), hotter than some stars. This heat is so intense that it rips apart the molecules in the planet's atmosphere, including hydrogen gas. Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/exoplanets/kelt9b-hottest-known-exoplanet/.

HAT-P-67-b seems to fit the bill. It is 1,200 light years from Earth and has a radius that is a little over twice that of Jupiters’. It orbits its host star very closely, only 10 million kilometers away and has a year that is almost 5 days long. The star itself, HAT-P-67, is an F-type star that is one and a half times the mass of the Sun and about two and a half times larger Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/exoplanets/largest-known-exoplanet/.

The launch and deployment of the James Webb Space Telescope in July 2022, marked the beginning of a new era in exoplanet science. Never before had humanity launched a more powerful and technologically advanced instrument into orbit that had the capabilities that JWST does. Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/discoveries/jwst-takes-first-direct-image-exoplanet/.

Tucked inside a quiet solar system, in the area of sky outlined by the constellation Aquarius, orbits a planet named TRAPPIST-1d, the third of seven planets in a system positioned 41 light years from our vantage point. TRAPPIST-1d is a rocky, Earth-like planet, meaning that it is roughly the same size and mass as our home. Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/exoplanets/trappist1d-world-edge-of-life/.

So far, we have discovered over 5000 exoplanets, using transit, radial velocity and microlensing methods. But there is another way to find exoplanets that has only recently been possible: by directly seeing them with our eyes. This is unimaginatively called the direct imaging method, and has revealed some amazing results. Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/science/direct-imaging-exoplanets/.

Imagine a planet that is so far away from us that it takes 40 years for its light to reach us. Now imagine that this planet has not one, but two stars that it orbits around. And finally, imagine that this planet has clouds made of sand particles that change the brightness of its atmosphere wildly as they move in the air. Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/exoplanets/jwst-observes-new-brown-dwarf/.

In our galaxy, there are many planets that wander alone in the dark, without a star to orbit. These rogue planets could have formed from the same material that makes stars, or they could have been kicked out of their original star systems by gravitational interactions. Some of these rogue planets could have moons which remain in tow, and these moons could be more than just cold and barren rocks. Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/science/life-in-the-dark/.

Many people feel that it’s very important for humanity’s long term survival that we become a multiplanet species. Traveling to and possibly even inhabiting other planets in our solar system is not only possible with our current levels of technology, but compared to going to the stars, it’s downright easy. But what about traveling to exoplanets? Can we reach the stars? Show Notes Available at https://exoplanetradio.com/science/how-long-to-proxima-b/.