Washington
Post: Since astronomers identified the first planet outside
our solar system 13 years ago there are now, according to the
Extrasolar Planets
Encyclopedia, 277 confirmed "extrasolar" planets, and quite
a few more on the list of those suspected but not yet
confirmed.This explosion in planetary discoveries is taking
place at such speed that even those most intimately involved
are often amazed."This is an absolutely astounding time for
this field," said Mark Swain of NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory,
who
last week reported finding the first "exoplanet" to have
organic methane in its atmosphere.The Washington Post
conducted a
discussion
forum with MIT's Sara Seager on the state of extra planetary
research on Monday afternoon.
