About Exoplanetology

Exoplanetology is an integrated science related to the study of extrasolar planets or exoplanets. It employs an interdisciplinary approach which include Astrobiology, Astrophysics, Astronomy, Planetary Science (Planetology), Geochemistry, Astrochemistry, and Astrogeology. Exoplanetology deals with the study of extrasolar planets in terms of their physics,biology,geochemistry. The discovery of exoplanets in transit in front of their parent star has led to the birth of this burgeoning new field in science. Being a new field, Exoplanetology currently focuses upon the detection of exoplanets via the "planet-hunting" techniques. However, as more and more planets are discovered, the field of Exoplanetology will continue to grow into a deeper study of extrasolar worlds, and ultimately tackle the prospect of life on other planets beyond our solar system.

An exoplanet (or extrasolar planet) is a planet orbiting another star (the "exo" prefix means "outside" in Greek). Up until now, planet-hunters has found mainly gas giant planets, which are easier to detect than telluric planets. However, due to the increasing sensitivity of the detection methods, we are already beginning to observe the first planets of sizes comparable to the Earth.

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