Why can we see “earth like” planets that are light years away but still debate how many planets are in our own solar system?

Question

Why can we see “earth like” planets that are light years away but still debate how many planets are in our own solar system?

In: Technology

Answer 1

The debate over how many planets we have in our solar system comes from our inability to agree on what makes it a planet. As we improve our telescope technology we’ve discovered more objects orbiting the Sun. Some of those objects are bigger than what we would consider an asteroid, but smaller than what we traditionally think of as a planet.

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/in-depth/