Question #4 – How many planets are there?

Answer: Was your answer eight, remembering that Pluto is no longer a planet? You would be right if we were just talking about our Solar System. There are however, many planets that have been discovered beyond our Solar System. The NASA Exoplanet Science Institute has confirmed 3,826 planets so far, in addition to the eight in our own Solar System.  How many of these might have some form of life?

That is a question for another week!

For more information about the number of exoplanets discovered, please read this article at NASA.gov

The Sun and eight planets of our solar system. Image credit: Creative Commons