SOLAR SYSTEM

Detailed explanation-1: -Planets that orbit around other stars are called exoplanets. All of the planets in our solar system orbit around the Sun. Planets that orbit around other stars are called exoplanets. Exoplanets are very hard to see directly with telescopes.

Detailed explanation-2: -Why is it so hard to see planets around other stars and so easy to see them around our own? Planets only reflect light and so are much fainter than their host stars when viewed at large distances. Therefore, glare from the host stars often completely washes out the planetary light.

Detailed explanation-3: -Most of the exoplanets discovered so far are in a relatively small region of our galaxy, the Milky Way. ("Small” meaning within thousands of light years of the solar system). That is as far as current telescopes have been able to probe.

Detailed explanation-4: -So far scientists have categorized exoplanets into the following types: Gas giant, Neptunian, super-Earth and terrestrial.

Detailed explanation-5: -Most stars have planets but exactly what proportion of stars have planets is uncertain because not all planets can yet be detected. That said it has been calculated that there is at least one planet on average per star. One in five Sun-like stars are expected to have an “Earth-sized” planet in the habitable zone.