Twenty-five years of exoplanet discoveries: The exoplanet hosts

TL;DR

This paper reviews 25 years of exoplanet discoveries, focusing on the characteristics of host stars and their influence on planetary system formation and evolution, highlighting the importance of star-planet relationships.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of exoplanet host star properties and their connection to planetary system development, emphasizing the role of discovery methods.

Findings

Most exoplanets are inferred indirectly through their effects on host stars.

Host star characteristics are crucial for understanding planetary system formation.

The study links star properties with planetary features to constrain formation theories.

Abstract

For centuries, humanity wondered if there were other worlds like ours in the Universe. For about a quarter of a century, we have known that planetary systems exist around other stars, and more than 3800 exoplanetary systems have been discovered so far. However, the large majority of the exoplanets remain invisible to us since we usually infer their presence by their effect on their star. The chapter is devoted to stellar hosts and their characteristics, emphasizing their description by discovery method and links between the properties of the host stars and their planets. The star-planet connection is vital to constrain the theories on the formation and evolution of planetary systems, including our own.