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exoplanets  Artist’s Concept — “Hot Jupiter” Around the Star HD
209458 Credit: NASA  By James Dacey  When the European Space
Agency (ESA) recently announced the discovery of 32 new
exoplanets, it struck me how quickly we can become numbed to the
wonders of scientific discovery.  In 1995, astronomers generated
a surge of excitement when they discovered the first planet to
be orbiting a star other than our Sun. Over the past 14 years,
astronomy has entered a dramatic new era with more than 400 of
these exoplanets now officially catalogued. The recent launch of
NASA’s Kepler mission and with ESA considering its ambitious
PLATO project means that we may well have detected thousands of
exoplanets within the next few years.  But as the discoveries
now come thick and fast, have we becoming a bit blasé about
exoplanets?  Well, one researc