First Exoplanet Discovery Story

An extrasolar planet or better known as exoplanet is a planet that is outside the Solar System. Beginning in 2017, the discovery of Earth-like exoplanets again became warmly discussed. There are seven Earth-like planets found around a star, the TRAPPIST-1 star (the seven exoplanets are named TRAPPIST-1 b, c, d, e, f, g, and h). However, in fact, the idea of human to seek another Earth it had been imagined by the thinkers since ancient times, long before the actual exoplanet era began. For more details, let's take a quick look at how the path of scientists discovered the first exoplanet.

In the 16th century, Giordano Bruno, an Italian philosopher, expressed a stirring opinion. Bruno imagined that there was another 'Earth' other than the Earth we live in now. If there is life on Earth, then there should be life on another 'Earth'. He believes that other stars in the sky also have planets that surround it like the Sun is surrounded by Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Unfortunately, at that time the extreme opinion was unacceptable. To correct it, Giordano Bruno was even sentenced to his idea. He was burned to death in a pathetic manner. However, indirectly Giordano Bruno has given a brilliant idea about exoplanets.

The systematic exoplanet search began in the 1940s and was pioneered by Peter van de Kamp (1901-1995). He published that a star named Barnard Star had the planet through his routine observations. However, John L. Hershey and then backed by George David Gatewood and Heinrich Eichhorn found that Van de Kamp's observations were merely an error from the use of tools that were not sufficient for the observations at that time.

Until in 1992 for the first time, Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail published that there are three exoplanets orbiting the star PSR 1257 + 12. The star is a very hot pulsar. Unfortunately, the discovery of the PSR 1257 + 12 b, PSR 1257 + 12 c, and PSR 1257 + 12 d received little public attention because the exoplanet was thought to be surrounding a star that was too hot to support the life form as we know it today. Though the discovery has been instrumental in providing new insights to us that it is true there are planets orbiting other stars.

Three years later, 1995, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz detect an exoplanet that is almost the size of the planet Jupiter. The planet is called 51 Pegasi b because it surrounds the star Pegasi. It turns out 51 Pegasi is a star with a spectrum class that is similar to the Sun. This is a phenomenal publication beyond the invention of PSR 1257 + 12. Until now people have known that even Pegasi b was the first exoplanet to be found.

That's how the story summarizes how the first exoplanets can be found. After more than two decades since the discovery of 51 Pegasi b, as of 1 April 2017, a total of 3472 exoplanets have been confirmed. There are so many planets outside our Solar System. In addition to increasing knowledge, hopefully, this article can also provide wisdom and be filling the spirit of friends back for never give up to reach a goal. Perhaps without our knowledge, the efforts we make can have a major impact on others and even be useful to the world. For example, the invention of Pegasi b spurred another discovery until an exoplanet orbiting the TRAPPIST-1 star was discovered.