After 30 years of discoveries of planets outside the solar system, the confirmed number of these worlds has reached 5,000 in the past year 2022. These discoveries include a variety of distant planets, including a super-Earth, a gas giant like Jupiter, an ice giant like Neptune and others.
Although planetary scientists have discovered thousands of these strange alien worlds, there are likely to be more than a trillion exoplanets in our Milky Way galaxy alone.
Among the recent exoplanet discoveries announced in 2022 are the following, according to Russia Today:
1- A planet that hosts metal clouds and rains precious stones:
Scientists have found that the airborne minerals and gems are most likely on the cooler side of WASP-121 b, an exoplanet 855 light-years from Earth. There, it’s cold enough for minerals in the upper atmosphere — such as magnesium, iron, vanadium, chromium and nickel — to condense into clouds.
2- A strange planet in the shape of a rugby ball:
The European Space Agency’s Cheops space telescope has discovered that WASP-103-b, a planet twice the size of Jupiter, is not because it orbits its star in a single day. This causes severe distortion of the planet due to the gravitational effect it is exposed to due to its star. This attraction distorted the shape of the spherical planet into a shape resembling a rugby ball.
3- The discovery of the “Super Neptune”:
About 150 light-years from Earth, astronomers have discovered a “super-Neptune” (a planet slightly larger than Neptune) with water vapor in its atmosphere. This is rare. NASA wrote: “At 150 light-years away, TOI-674 b is astronomically close, which is one reason scientists can derive the chemical makeup of its atmosphere.
4- An exoplanet is still forming:
Planetary scientists have discovered a giant exoplanet still forming, called AB Aurigae b.
The Hubble Space Telescope has documented the planet’s evolution into a still young and volatile disk of gas and dust called a protoplanetary disk. Scientists believe it is nine times larger than Jupiter.
5- A planet close to the size of the Earth:
Last August, astronomers announced that the exoplanet “TOI-1452 b” is close to the size of Earth and located in a region of its solar system where liquid water and large amounts of water could exist.
6- A strange planet that looks like a marshmallow:
Scientists have discovered TOI-3757 b, a giant gas planet with the density of “marshmallow” or “marshmallow”, orbiting a cold red dwarf star located 580 light-years from Earth.
7- A planet 700 light years away:
Astronomers have found the exoplanet WASP-39 b, a hot gas giant orbiting a star 700 light-years away.
