how many planets have been discovered so far

Question: how many planets have been discovered so far

Asked by loki514 to MarkF, Mark, Michael, Panos, Sarah on 20 Jun 2010 in Categories: General.
- Panos Soultanas answered on 18 Jun 2010:
  
  Have a look at the wikipedia on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extrasolar_planet
  Some good information on this site.
- Mark Fogg answered on 18 Jun 2010:
  
  There are 8 in our solar system including the earth, Pluto isn’t a planet. I think we’re now in the hundreds for planets discovered round other stars. Not totally sure, but if you Google ‘Extra Solar Planets’ you might get the info you want.
- Mark Travis answered on 18 Jun 2010:
  
  Well, all bar 3 of the planets have not been officially dicovered, as they are visible by the naked eye and therefore were known before records began. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were discovered from the 1700’s onwards…. although pluto has now been downgraded to a ‘star’.
- Michael Loughlin answered on 20 Jun 2010:
  
  no idea i’m afriad
  
  342 in the milkyway though
  
  http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/milky-way/how-many-planets-are-in-the-milky-way/
- Sarah Burl answered on 20 Jun 2010:
  
  Until recently 9 but Pluto is no longer called a planet so there is 8 now. A definition of a planet is that
  1 They need to orbit the sun
  2 They need enough gravity to pull themselves into a ball
  3 They need to have cleared out all the objects from their orbit
  Pluto fails on number 3.

Question: how many planets have been discovered so far