In early 1990, the first extrasolar planet was detected, surprising everyone by its strangeness. More planets have now been discovered outside our solar system than in it. These planets present many great mysteries to the astronomical world.

Extrasolar planets are planets that exist outside our solar system; they are orbiting a star other than our Sun. So far, eighteen have been found, all of them defying well-established theories about planets and how they operate (Winters, 46). As Stephen Maran said, "The new discoveries remind us that ignorance is not just bliss, it is also a lack of imagination. The newfound planets show us not only that a solar system is not a rare commodity, but that ours may be plain vanilla." (73)

Finding extrasolar planets is both difficult and complicated. The average star, for instance, is one hundred million times brighter than any planet orbiting it (De Grasse Tyson, 87). "Picking out a planet against the glare of a star is like trying to spot a 100-watt light bulb next to a 100-billion-watt searchlight," says Michael Lemonick (54). Also, earth-size planets are too small to have any significant effect on their star, so they are almost impossible

Although there has been a great deal of speculation and optimism about these newly discovered planets, some irrational scientists still refuse to believe in their existence. In the 1600s, Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for saying that there was other worlds outside our solar system (De Grasse Tyson, 86). Today's punishment is not nearly as harsh, but often planetary scientists are ridiculed for their discoveries, because in the opinion of some scientists there is "a lack of substantial evidence" (Maran, 75). How can we be so silly as to assume that we are the only planetary island in a vast ocean of stars? Also, many theories are being eliminated by extrasolar planets, causing stubborn astronomers to become uneasy. One instance is the theory of a star's formation; when a star is being made, strong winds blow away all debris orbiting near it. The presence of large planets with tight orbits contradict this theory. There are also some doubts about the Doppler effect, in that it may simply be the result of fluctuations of the star's surface, and not planets at all (De Grasse Tyson, 88). What constitutes most doubt, however, is the existence of Brown Dwarf Stars. Brown Dwarfs are stars in elliptical orbits around other stars that do not have enough mass for nuclear reactions in their cores (Winters, 47). They "bridge the gap in mass between stars and planets," as Robert Naeye says (45), and almost always have elliptical orbits (Winters, 46). In fact, brown dwarfs would explain many of these odd "planets" that have been located. Thus, extrasolar planets are not only unstable in structure, but in existence as well, being doubted and contradicted just as much as supported and proven.

Though strangeness may promote curiosity, a major goal in searching for extrasolar planets is to

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