The Most Common Planet in the Universe? @scishowspace

The Most Common Planet in the Universe? @scishowspace

Uploaded April 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

There’s one kind of planet we’ve found more often than any other in the universe so far: mini-Neptunes. Now, some scientists think they’ve figured out why there are just so many of them.

Hosted by: Caitlin Hofmeister

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Sources:
aasnova.org/2020/02/04/why-are-there-so-many-sub-neptune-exoplanets
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ab59d9
newscientist.com/article/dn24826-most-common-exoplanets-are-weird-mini-neptunes
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aa8cd0
planetary.org/articles/the-skies-of-mini-neptunes
https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/
nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/main/index.html

Images:
svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13155
svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12425
svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12880
exoplanets.nasa.gov/discovery/how-we-find-and-characterize
nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasas-k2-finds-newborn-exoplanet-around-young-star
nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/multimedia/images/kepler-47-art.html
svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/30710
svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4601

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$The Future of the Search for Life Get 50% off your SciShow Space calendar today by heading to https://complexlycalendars.com/products/scishowspace Astronomers have found more than 5,000 planets in the last three decades, but that’s not nearly as exciting as potentially coming across the first extraterrestrial creatures. And we may finally be in a position to make that discovery. Hosted by: Hank Green (he/him) Thumbnail Courtesy: TMT Observatory Corporation Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporter for helping us keep SciShow Space free for everyone forever: Jason A Saslow, David Brooks, and AndyGneiss! Support SciShow Space by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SciShowSpace Or by checking out our awesome space pins and other products over at DFTBA Records: http://dftba.com/scishow Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet? SciShow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@scishow SciShow Tangents Podcast: http://www.scishowtangents.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/scishow Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scishow Instagram: http://instagram.com/thescishow Sources: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/faq/6/how-many-exoplanets-are-there/ https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/how-far-from-earth-could-aliens-detect-our-radio-signals/ https://www.seti.org/primer-seti-seti-institute https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2020/07/03/a-seti-reality-check/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK540092/ https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/about/ https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/resources/2312/spectroscopy-detection-of-biosignatures/ http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/resceu/lectures/spectra/spectra.html http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/resceu/lectures/spectra/ans_trans_frac.txt https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/448/3/2546/1109920 https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/news/detecting-lifes-influence-on-planetary-atmospheres https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/ast.2017.1727 https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Microbiology/Book%3A_Microbiology_(Boundless)/8%3A_Microbial_Evolution_Phylogeny_and_Diversity/8.15%3A_Euryarchaeota/8.15C%3A_Methane-Producing_Archaea Methanogens https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4323125/ https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/rog.20011 https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2117933119 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2208.07393.pdf https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ac8cfb https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/trappist1/ https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aa7fea https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25233640-700-3-of-the-most-exciting-space-telescopes-planned-for-launch-by-2034/ https://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/luvoir/design/ https://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/luvoir/reports/LUVOIR_FinalReport_2019-08-26.pdf https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.09990 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7801784_Vegetations_Red_Edge_A_Possible_Spectroscopic_Biosignature_of_Extraterrestrial_Plants https://phys.org/news/2020-03-clouds-obscure-view-exoplanet-surfaces.html https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/facilities-technology/telescopes-instruments/giant-magellan-telescope https://arxiv.org/pdf/1705.05791.pdf https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-detects-carbon-dioxide-in-exoplanet-atmosphere https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-reveals-steamy-atmosphere-of-distant-planet-in-detail Images: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NASA-Exoplanet-WaterWorlds-20180817.jpg https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13375 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Artist%E2%80%99s_impression_of_the_European_Extremely_Large_Telescope_(15761494008).jpg https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/a-spin-around-an-exoplanet-most-like-earth https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/resources/2312/spectroscopy-detection-of-biosignatures/ https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-reveals-steamy-atmosphere-of-distant-planet-in-detail https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Exoplanet-WASP-39b-20180301.jpg https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/772739 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sea_lettuce_in_Brofjorden_1 cropped.jpg https://www.flickr.com/photos/ex_magician/4235161003 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NASA-RedDwarfPlanet-ArtistConception-20130728.jpg https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/30870 https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Plato_factsheet https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rendering_of_LUVOIR-A_observatory,_2019.png https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hubble_ultra_deep_field.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giant_Magellan_Telescope artist%27s_concept.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Top_view_of_tmt_complex.jpg$

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