 We've known for a while that our Milky Way galaxy contains more planets than stars. The more we find out, the more it resembles the Star Trek universe. Here at the Open University, I've been working on finding some of the most interesting and important of these exoplanets, including Barnard Star B, which orbits one of the sun's nearest neighbours. In the Open University's 50th year, we will be announcing the discovery of some particularly interesting planets discovered by me and my team at the OEU. I will introduce them and explain why these particular planets offer special opportunities to place planet Earth in context. Join me for my inaugural lecture to find out more about all of this.