NASA's Roman Space Telescope could transform the hunt for worlds beyond our solar system, with scientists estimating it may uncover around 100,000 exoplanets.
A survey machine
Roman is designed to scan wide swaths of the sky, using techniques such as microlensing and transit detection to spot planets that other instruments would miss. That breadth could dramatically expand the known catalogue of exoplanets.
Why it matters
A vastly larger sample would help astronomers understand how common different types of planets are, including worlds similar in size to Earth, and refine the search for potentially habitable environments.
Source: ScienceDaily.