After 30 years of discovering planets outside the solar system, the confirmed number of these worlds 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 discoveries of exoplanets that were 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 airborne minerals and gems are most likely found on the cooler side of WASP-121 b, an exoplanet 855 light-years from Earth. There, it is cold enough for minerals in the high 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 found that WASP-103-b, a planet twice the size of Jupiter, is not because it orbits its star in just one day. This causes a severe distortion on 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 similar to a rugby ball.
3- The discovery of “Super Neptune”:
About 150 light-years from Earth, astronomers 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 of the reasons why scientists can derive the chemical composition 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 documented the planet evolving in a still young and volatile disk of gas and dust called a protoplanetary disk. Scientists believe that it is nine times larger than Jupiter.
5- A planet close to the size of Earth:
Last August, astronomers announced that the exoplanet “TOI-1452 b” is close to the size of Earth and is located in a region of its solar system where liquid water and vast 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 “marshmallows” or “marshmallows”, orbiting a cool 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 closely orbiting a star 700 light-years away.