Summary: Exoplanets are planets beyond our solar system. Astronomers have speculated about their existence for centuries, but it was not until the 1990s that instruments became sophisticated enough to detect such remote objects. Since then, more than 900 exoplanets have been discovered, and scientists are now able to reach increasingly sophisticated conclusions about what they look like - and whether they might be able to support life. Melvyn Bragg is joined by Carolin Crawford, Gresham Professor of Astronomy and a member of the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge; Don Pollacco, Professor of Astronomy at the University of Warwick and Suzanne Aigrain, Lecturer in Astrophysics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of All Souls College.
