There are more than 5,000 confirmed planets beyond our solar system, NASA says

The illustration of the TESS is from NASA.

AP

NASA confirmed there are now 5,000 known planets beyond our solar system.

These so-called exoplanets include rocky worlds roughly the size of Earth, gas giants larger than Jupiter and mini-Neptunes.

The lead scientist for the NASA Exoplanet Archive and a research scientist with the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute at Caltech said in a statement that it was not just a number.

Each one of them is a brand-new planet. Christiansen said that he gets excited about every one because they don't know anything about them.

Scientists are getting better at discovering them

The ability to find new exoplanets is exploding with a growing understanding of how to locate planets beyond our solar system and the technological tools to do it.

NASA says our galaxy is home to billions of exoplanets. The truth about extraterrestrial life may be out there.

The lead author of a 1992 paper that confirmed the first exoplanets said it was inevitable that we would find some kind of life somewhere.

Some are called super-Earths

Some of the planets found so far are similar in size to Neptune or Uranus and can be ice giants. Around 31% are called super-Earths, ranging in size from Earth to Neptune and possibly rocky, while 30% are gas giants.

The first exoplanets were discovered by using theobble method to track the subtle teeter of a star.

They put a space telescope up and watched for dips in light that would indicate a planet was passing by. Most of the known exoplanets have been found using this method.