Thirty years ago, on Oct. 6, 1995, the very first exoplanet to be discovered around a sun-like star was revealed. Called 51 Pegasi b, it was a world like nothing we had ever seen before: a gas giant planet similar to Jupiter, but so close to its star that its year lasts just a little over four Earth days and its sky burns at 1,830 degrees Fahrenheit (1,000 degrees Celsius).
The discovery of 51 Pegasi b was a turning point in astronomical history. No longer were we confined to studying just the planets in our own solar system; there was an entire universe of planetary systems out there for us to explore.
