21.   Taylor and Hulse achieved this by measuring the pulsation rate of a spinning neutron star orbiting another star.

22.   The planets that have been discovered orbiting other stars so far are all giants, presumed to be incapable of supporting life.

23.   The space laser phenomenon is boosted by the highly organized gases in the disk orbiting the star, where atoms with similar velocities stay in tune with each other.

24.   The technique may one day reveal Earthlike planets orbiting distant stars, but hurdles remain.

25.   They do not meet the standard definition of planets, for they are not orbiting any star.

26.   Those wobbles are caused by the extremely slight gravitational tug of a planet as it orbits the star.

27.   To have the right temperature to support life, they said, a planet must orbit its star at just the right distance.

28.   When enough large planets orbit a star in proximity, perhaps they generate a gravitational slingshot that projects the planets into elongated orbits.

29.   At least one brown dwarf orbits a star.

30.   For decades, the search for planets orbiting distant stars was considered a nutty backwater of astronomy.