The wait to become a planet is now over for 1,284 bodies outside the solar system. This week, NASA announced that they meet the qualifications for planet status. The Kepler space telescope, which identified them, scrutinized a particular patch of stars in the sky from 2009 to 2013, watching for the star's light to dim, meaning that a planet was passing in between the star and the telescope. To be sure the dimness was really from the planet and not something else in the universe, scientists checked and rechecked using other telescopes and data. Hence the long, but well worth it wait. The image above is an artist's illustration of the planets.