Title: Exoplanets, Worlds Orbiting Other Stars | The Planetary Society
Headings: Exoplanets, Worlds Orbiting Other Stars
Exoplanets, Worlds Orbiting Other Stars
Facts Worth Sharing
Why study exoplanets?
The Different Kinds of Exoplanets You Meet in the Milky Way
How do we study exoplanets?
How to Search for Exoplanets
Active Exoplanets Missions
Future Exoplanets Missions
Earth-sized or Earth-like?
What Is the Habitable Zone?
What can you do to advance exoplanet research?
Our Exoplanets Projects
Three ways you can be a space advocate

Content: By then, you might be able to conclude Earth was habitable. But to tell if there was actually life on the surface, you'd need to find gases in the planet's atmosphere like ozone that are possible byproducts of life. Our current and near-future telescopes won't be able to do this, but several proposed space telescopes might. Even then, you probably wouldn't be able to say for certain that you'd found life. Ultimately, it could take something like a telescope that uses our Sun's gravity as a giant lens to capture a sharp picture of an exoplanet and see signs of life on the surface. This may sound impossibly futuristic, but the technology is not beyond our reach. What can you do to advance exoplanet research? Since 2009, Planetary Society members have supported work by Debra Fischer, one of the world's top exoplanet researchers. These projects have greatly improved our ability to search for Earth-like exoplanets. We've been working with Fischer on exoplanet projects since 2009.