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For example, while our solar system hosts an equal number of rocky and giant planets, rocky planets appear to be more common in the universe. Researchers have also found a range of planets entirely different from those in our solar system. There are Jupiter sized planets that orbit closer to their parent star than Mercury orbits the sun. Planets that orbit two stars, no stars and no mid-stars. Planets covered in lava, some with a density of Styrofoam and others with clouds made of gemstones. Each of the different types of planets we discovered gives us information about the conditions under which planets can form and ultimately how common planets like Mercury and where we should be looking for them, said Don Jeleno, head of NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program, PDP. Located at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. We want to find out if we are alone in the universe all of this knowledge is essential. Searching for other worlds. Fewer than 100 exoplanets have been directly damaged because most planets are so faint they get lost in the light from their parent star. The other four methods of detection are indirect. For instance, astronomers look for a star in a short period as an orbiting planet passes in front of it. To account for the possibility that something other than an exoplanet is responsible for a particular signal, most exoplanet candidates must be confirmed by follow-up observations often using an additional telescope and that takes time. That's why there is a long list of candidates in the NASA satellite that will be sent by next slide. Waiting to be confirmed.