The Lick Observatory's Newest Telescope Is an Exoplanet Hunting Robot

Exoplanets--planets orbiting stars that aren't our Sun--seem to be popping out of the cosmic woodwork now that we know where and how to look for them. The Kepler mission alone has discovered 961 of them, and it's only looking at a tiny sliver of distant space. Just think of how many we'll find when the new James Lick robotic telescope comes online and starts surveying one thousand of our closest solar neighbors.