• Question: how many solar systems are there

    Asked by anon-245462 to Sam, Samantha, Nicol, Lori-Ann, Liam, David on 10 Mar 2020.
    • Photo: Sam Frampton

      Sam Frampton answered on 10 Mar 2020:

      We have found 500 solar systems so far, but we think there are much much more, we just haven’t found them yet

    • Photo: Lori-Ann Foley

      Lori-Ann Foley answered on 10 Mar 2020:

      We are finding more and more every year. So that’s very exciting.

    • Photo: Samantha Faircloth

      Samantha Faircloth answered on 10 Mar 2020:

      Hello Caspar! Great question. So far, 500 have been found but as telescopes get more and more powerful, we should find many more solar systems! : -)

    • Photo: David Sobral

      David Sobral answered on 10 Mar 2020:

      On average there is at least a planet per star.

      Our galaxy has over 100 billion stars, so there are likely 100 billion solar systems, just in our Galaxy! With about 2 trillion galaxies out there, you can imagine how many solar systems there must be.

      What is really fascinating is that some solar systems are incredibly “weird”: they have planets like Jupiter orbiting even closer to their star than Mercury, something that was a huge puzzle when people discovered them. Turns out those Jupiter-like planets likely still formed very far away, but “migrated” in with time and likely “expelled” planets like Earth from their solar systems. Potentially there are planets wondering around the galaxy without belonging to their stars anymore.

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