Journey through distant star systems and discover the thousands of exoplanets orbiting stars beyond our Sun. These alien worlds might hold the key to answering humanity's most profound question: Are we alone in the universe?
First Earth-size planet in habitable zone
Terrestrial worlds similar to Earth, Mars, or Venus with solid surfaces and potentially thin atmospheres.
Massive planets composed mostly of gases like hydrogen and helium, similar to Jupiter and Saturn.
Cold worlds composed of heavier volatile substances like water, methane, and ammonia.
Water World Candidate
This Earth-sized planet in the TRAPPIST-1 system might have liquid water and potentially life-supporting conditions.
Earth's Cousin
The first near-Earth-size world found orbiting in the habitable zone of a star very similar to our Sun.
Evaporating Giant
First exoplanet detected by multiple methods, with an evaporating atmosphere and vapor trails.
Detects the slight dimming of a star when a planet passes in front of it. This method provides information about the planet's size and orbit. NASA's Kepler mission used this technique to discover thousands of exoplanets.
Measures the star's wobble caused by a planet's gravitational pull. This reveals the planet's mass and orbit. The first exoplanet around a Sun-like star, 51 Pegasi b, was found this way in 1995.
Captures actual images of exoplanets by blocking the glare of their host stars. This is especially effective for large, young planets far from their stars. The HR 8799 system planets were the first to be directly photographed.
Uses the gravitational lens effect when a planet and its star pass in front of a distant star. This temporarily magnifies the background star's light. This method is particularly sensitive to planets in the habitable zone of cool stars.
Launched in 2009, Kepler discovered over 2,600 confirmed exoplanets by monitoring star brightness in a fixed field of view.
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (launched 2018) searches for planets around the brightest stars near Earth.
The JWST (launched 2021) studies exoplanet atmospheres to search for chemical signatures that might indicate life.
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