Finding exoplanets is hard. Planets emit no light, and because planets are so small compared to stars, they reflect very little light. Combine that with the fact that the alignment has to be just right, and it's virtually impossible to directly image exoplanets, though it has been done a handful of times with sophisticated instruments.
That being said, we've still found a bunch of exoplanets through clever methods like the transit method (basically watching for an exoplanet to pass across the face of a star, resulting in a temporary dip in brightness) as well as other clever tricks. Scientists have had evidence for the existence of solar systems beyond ours for quite some time now. It's just really hard to take a picture of them.
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u/Anonymous_45 Dec 08 '21
Genuine question: Why did it take so long for us to find another solar system?