Extrasolar Planets

T he extraordinary discovery of a number of planetary‐mass bodies orbiting nearby stars similar to the Sun has completely transformed the field of extrasolar planet detection. This sudden transformation has been brought about by a handful of dedicated observers, working quietly with modest‐sized telescopes, often for decades at a time. They include Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz at the Geneva Observatory, Geoffrey Marcy and R. Paul Butler at San Francisco State University and George Gatewood at the University of Pittsburgh. Many of the new objects have already been independently confirmed. The history of failure to confirm earlier claims for extrasolar planets mercifully has been forgotten at long last, as astronomers and planetary scientists rush to find even more planets.