Planet List

I just had a revelatory experience.  

while surfing for “extrasolar planets” 

Feeling sad for Pluto 

Demoted to a dwarf planet.

I happened to click here, 

then scrolled down.  

Try it; I’ll wait here. . . 

You feel it?  

I knew we had discovered quite a few, 

but scrolling through them 

makes the number visceral. 

And these just in our backyard

out here in the suburbs 

of the Milky Way.  

Once TESS deploys, 

and then the Webb, 

the list is going to explode!  

Our galaxy alone 

Is estimated to have 

at least 160 billion planets.  

Forget Pluto!  

I just want to see the list 

of the first million planets found 

The first 0.00000625%.  

We’d need 160,000 such lists 

to cover them all.  

So you tell me:  

Are we alone?