Exoplanets

An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, initially detected in 1988, was confirmed in 2003. As of 1 August 2022, there are 5,125 confirmed exoplanets in 3,794 planetary systems, with 829 systems having more than one planet. There are many methods of detecting exoplanets. Transit photometry and Doppler spectroscopy have found the most, but these methods suffer from a clear observational bias favoring the detection of planets near the star; thus, 85% of the exoplanets detected are inside the tidal locking zone. In several cases, multiple planets have been observed around a star. About 1 in 5 Sun-like stars have an "Earth-sized" planet in the habitable zone.

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Scientists need your help to confirm Jupiter-like exoplanets

2 Incredibly Rare Exoplanets Could Give Us Insights About a Planet Close to Home

Two “Super Mercury” Exoplanets Found in a Single System

Deadly stellar radiation blasts 'habitable' exoplanets every few days

JWST’s MIRI Issues, Newborn Quasar, Detecting Exoplanets with Lagrange Points

Super-Earth exoplanets are bigger, more common, and even more habitable than Earth itself.

Eyeball exoplanets are tidally locked worlds that could be the key to finding life in the universe — if they exist.

Photobombing exoplanets might thwart search for extraterrestrial life

Rare Neptune-size exoplanets may face solar superstorms from parent stars

James Webb Space Telescope will seek clouds of vaporized gems on exoplanets

How You Could Help Scientists Learn More About Exoplanets

Mini-Neptunes may become super-Earths as the exoplanets lose their atmospheres

JWST could soon tell us what exoplanets' surfaces are made of

NASA Wants Your Help Designing a Starshade to Observe Exoplanets

A new method to detect exoplanets

Astronomers Have a New Way to Find Exoplanets in Cataclysmic Binary Systems

A new method to detect exoplanets

Earth has Clouds of Water. Hot Exoplanets Have Clouds of Sand

Undead planets: The unusual conditions of the first exoplanet detection. The first ever exoplanets were discovered 30 years ago around a rapidly rotating star, called a pulsar. Now, astronomers have revealed that these planets may be incredibly rare.