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The variety of exoplanets bagged since then has only pushed the envelope further

 
 
Reply Sun 20 Sep, 2015 09:29 pm
Does "The variety of exoplanets bagged since then has only pushed the envelope further" refer to The variety of exoplanets which have been found since then has only increased further"?

Context:

UP UNTIL the mid-1990s, the only planets whose existence we knew about for certain were those in our own solar system. This narrow worldview was changed forever when the first exoplanets were found orbiting around pulsars – the burnt cinders of exploded, monster stars – swiftly followed by the discovery of gaseous titans in searing proximity to their suns. In the best traditions of exploration, these foreign planets were unlike anything we had previously imagined.

The variety of exoplanets bagged since then has only pushed the envelope further. Exoplanets, we have learned, are happy to bask in the simultaneous light of four suns, wander the galaxy as starless outcasts from their home solar systems or orbit whipper-snapper stars barely 1 million years old.

“What happened in our solar system hasn’t served us very well in predicting what we will find around other stars,” says Gregory Laughlin ...

More:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22730390-600-5-alien-worlds-weirder-than-any-we-have-found-so-far/
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View best answer, chosen by oristarA
InfraBlue
 
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Reply Sun 20 Sep, 2015 11:22 pm
@oristarA,
"The envelope" here refers to the limits of knowledge and understanding of planets.
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FBM
  Selected Answer
 
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Reply Mon 21 Sep, 2015 12:25 am
After finding a few, they were able to figure out how to find even more, beyond the limits of the previous technology.

Quote:
push the envelope
Exceed the limits of what is normally done, be innovative, as in They are pushing the envelope in using only new fabrics for winter clothing. This idiom comes from aviation, the envelope alluding to the technical limits of a plane's performance, which, on a graph, appear as a rising slope as limits of speed and stress are approached and falls off when the capacity is exceeded and the pilot loses control; safety lies within these limits, or envelope, and exceeding them exposes pilot and plane to risk.


http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/push+the+envelope
oristarA
 
  1  
Reply Mon 21 Sep, 2015 04:20 am
@FBM,
Excellent.
Thank you both.
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