In just over three decades, we have gone from zero to thousands of exoplanets.
Before 1990, humanity had not confirmed a single planet orbiting a star outside our own solar system. This video explores the rapid evolution of exoplanet discovery, highlighting how European Southern Observatory facilities in Chile have driven our understanding of these diverse, distant worlds.
The field of exoplanetary science has undergone an enormous expansion since the early 1990s. While we once knew of no planets beyond our own neighborhood, researchers now recognize thousands of these bodies. The video details how state-of-the-art instrumentation at ESO observatories has been central to this progress.
By moving beyond simple detection, astronomers are now able to study the extraordinary diversity of these planets in surprising detail. This ongoing work continues to reshape our view of the cosmos and the prevalence of planetary systems throughout the galaxy.
