Before 1991, the worlds of our own solar system were the only known planets. Astronomers did not believe that our sun's environment was the only planet producer in the universe. But they had no evidence of planets outside our solar system.
How quickly things change.
In 1991 radio astronomers detected the first extrasolar planets orbiting a dying pulsar star. Although the deadly radiation from the pulsar would not sustain life, it was the first example of a star other than our Sun producing planets.
Since then more than 450 planets have been found orbiting other stars. Some of them are orbiting extremely close to their parent star like the 51 Peg planetary system, while others are found to be at distances comparable to where Mars and Jupiter orbit in our solar system.
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