Exoplanet

space · planets · astronomy · discovery

Planets beyond home. Exoplanets are worlds that orbit stars other than our Sun, located somewhere in the vast universe beyond our Solar System. They can be rocky like Earth or giant gas balls like Jupiter.

Found by humans. The first exoplanet was confirmed in 1992 orbiting a pulsar, and by 2026 we've discovered over 6,300 confirmed exoplanets. We keep finding more thanks to powerful telescopes that can detect tiny wobbles in distant stars.

Planets in groups. Many exoplanets don't travel alone. Out of the 4,740 planetary systems we've found, over 1,000 systems have multiple planets orbiting the same star, just like our Solar System does.

Hidden for centuries. Astronomers may have spotted hints of an exoplanet as far back as 1917, but they couldn't confirm it until 2003. Finding these distant worlds is like spotting a firefly next to a searchlight.