熟悉又陌生的行星:从太阳系内到太阳系外

Old and new:planets in the solar system and beyond

过去几千年人类对行星认识的范围仅仅局限在太阳系内,而数目也仅仅不到十颗。从上世纪末到现在短短的二十来年,人类已经发现了成千上万颗太阳系外行星。古老的行星科学向人们展现了它新的面孔,把人们从太阳系内带到了太阳系外。文章首先简要回顾了人类探索行星的历史,然后介绍太阳系外行星领域的一些重要进展及热门的研究话题,最后谈及对该领域未来的展望和期待。

For thousands of years, our knowledge of planet has been confined within the solar system, which contains only a handful of known planets. Since 1990s, people have made enormous progress in the last 20 years. Thousands of extra-solar planets （exoplanets） have been detected, opening a new era for planetary research and extending our scope beyond the solar system. In this article, we briefly review the history of planetary research, introduce some key progress and hot topics in the field of exoplanet, and discuss its prospects in the near future.