"Fast forward to the present day, here in 2025, and we're closing in on 6000 confirmed exoplanets, found and measured through multiple techinques: the transit method, the stellar wobble method, and even direct imaging. That last one is so profoundly exciting because it gives us hope that, someday soon, we might be able to take direct images of Earth-like worlds, some of which may even be inhabited."
"Although it may be a long time before we can get an exoplanet image as high-resolution as even the ultra-distant "pale blue dot" photo that Voyager took of Earth so many decades ago, the fact remains that science is advancing rapidly, and things that seemed impossible mere decades ago now reflect today's reality. And the people driving this fascinating field forward the most are the mostly"
Exoplanet detection began in the early 1990s and by 2025 has reached nearly 6000 confirmed planets. Discoveries use the transit method, stellar wobble (radial-velocity), and direct imaging techniques. Direct imaging offers the promise of capturing Earth-like worlds and potential signs of life, though current resolution lags far behind Voyager's distant "pale blue dot" image. Rapid technological progress has turned once-impossible goals into realistic near-term prospects. Early-career researchers, including graduate students and postdocs, provide much of the hands-on work and innovation driving the field. The trajectory of the field provokes hope, frustration, and optimism about what comes next.
Read at Big Think
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