We are the first generation that has brought these planets – now known as exoplanets – from the realm of science-fiction into that of science. An important milestone was the discovery of several planets orbiting a pulsar (Wolszczan & Frail, 1992), followed by the first planet orbiting a star more similar to our Sun (Mayor & Queloz, 1995), an achievement recently awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. The 25 years since have been filled with an abundance of exciting discoveries and today we know over 5000 exoplanets.
Exoplanet Missions
These are the missions that we are involved in as part of our research into exoplanets.
Resources:
Astrophysics Research:
Publications
Astrophysics Group Page
Connect with Astrophysics:
All Astrophysics News
MSSL Astrophysics Twitter
MSSL Astrophysics Blog
Head of Group:
Prof. Silvia Zane
s.zane@ucl.ac.uk