Planet-Finding by Numbers

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This graph shows the number of potentially habitable planets the Space Interferometry Mission PlanetQuest would have the sensitivity to find. Image credit: NASAJPL
This graph shows the number of potentially habitable planets the Space Interferometry Mission PlanetQuest would have the sensitivity to find. Image credit: NASA/JPL

More than a decade after the first planets beyond our solar system were found, astronomers have discovered about 200 of these "extrasolar planets," as they're called. Using a common-sense definition of potentially habitable planets, coupled with extensive computer simulations, scientists have calculated how many potentially habitable planets might be detected around other stars by the SIM PlanetQuest mission. ("SIM" stands for Space Interferometry Mission.)


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