My understanding is that they spot planets by looking for drop in light intensity when the planet passes in front of the star.

Out in space, Kepler spotted more planets, researchers modeled Titan's weather, and quasicrystals formed, only to be brought to earth in a meteorite.

At a sixteen-light-year range, variance between intended destination and actual arrival point could run as much as 2 A.U.s. Added to that was the difficulty of spotting planets, which were usually the only bodies, other than the sun, close enough to help in establishing one's position.

It also featured Jonathan Ross learning how to spot planets, and a discussion with the International Space Station.

The team has plans to publicly credit amateurs who spot such planets.

They started imaging it specifically to spot planets back in 2007, using the Gemini and Keck Observatories.

The other thing is that better hardware for detecting exoplanets is coming on line within the next decade, which should be able to spot smaller planets closer in to the star.

Most news of exoplanets in recent years has come from the Kepler telescope, which spots planets by looking for the slight dimming of their host stars' light as planets pass in front of them.

Tatooine-like planets may be common: Researchers use data from the Kepler observatory to spot planets orbiting star systems with two suns.