Exoplanet Exploration

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Exoplanet Watch

Target Lists

You can use the following target lists below to schedule your observing in advance or for other locations on the Earth. Just select one of the lists, pick a target, and then use an observing planning tool (e.g., NASA's Exoplanet Archive Ephemeris Service or the Swarthmore Transit Finder) to determine when your target's next transit is visible from your location!

Exoplanet Watch Ranked Target List - please refer to this page here to determine the column header information; this ranked target list is generated from the list of known transiting exoplanets on the NASA Exoplanet Archive and then ranked according to the Figure of Merit (Eqn. 6) in Zellem et al. 2020
European Space Agency's Ariel Mission Target List (Edwards et al. 2019)
TESS Targets of Interest (Note: after clicking the link, select the "TESS Objects of Interest" radio button under "Target list")
Planet Hunters TESS Candidate Planets (click here for more information about Planet Hunters TESS, a citizen science project to discover planets in TESS data)
Potential Exomoon Hosts (coming soon!)

Exoplanet News

Stars and their planets make their own eclipses – important scientific tools for detecting and characterizing exoplanets.

That Starry Night Sky? It's Full of Eclipses

That Starry Night Sky? It's Full of Eclipses

Two recently discovered exoplanets, gas giants possibly similar to Saturn, could be candidates for further atmospheric investigation.

Discovery Alert: a Long Year for a 'Cold Saturn'

Discovery Alert: a Long Year for a 'Cold Saturn'

A newly discovered 'super-Earth' dwells in the habitable zone of its parent star – and might have a roughly Earth-sized companion.

Discovery Alert: A 'Super-Earth' in the Habitable Zone

Discovery Alert: A 'Super-Earth' in the Habitable Zone

In a system with two known planets, astronomers spotted something new: a small object transiting across the Sun-sized star. This turned out to be another planet: extra hot and Earth-sized.

Discovery Alert: Earth-sized Planet Has a 'Lava Hemisphere'

Discovery Alert: Earth-sized Planet Has a 'Lava Hemisphere'

Fifteen years ago, astronomers delivered what is now an iconic direct image of an exoplanet, Beta Pictoris b.

Seeing, Believing: 15 Years of Exoplanet Images

Seeing, Believing: 15 Years of Exoplanet Images

Six "sub-Neptunes" orbit their star in a kind of rhythmic dance – one easily set to music.

Discovery Alert: Watch the Synchronized Dance of a 6-Planet System

Discovery Alert: Watch the Synchronized Dance of a 6-Planet System

Scientists find that a glowing cloud that obscured a star was caused by a cataclysmic collision of two giant exoplanets.

Discovery Alert: Glowing Cloud Points to Cosmic Collision

Discovery Alert: Glowing Cloud Points to Cosmic Collision

A large, gaseous planet orbits a star that should have destroyed it.

Discovery Alert: The Planet that Shouldn't Be There

Discovery Alert: The Planet that Shouldn't Be There

With the discovery of six new exoplanets, scientists have tipped the scales and surpassed 5,500 exoplanets found (there are now 5,502 known exoplanets, to be exact).

Discovery Alert: With Six New Worlds, 5,500 Discovery Milestone Passed!

Discovery Alert: With Six New Worlds, 5,500 Discovery Milestone Passed!

Stars farther from the center of our galaxy possess fewer of the most common types of planets, a recent study shows.

Discovery Alert: On Our Galaxy's Outskirts, a Poverty of Planets

Discovery Alert: On Our Galaxy's Outskirts, a Poverty of Planets

Scientists used the Webb Telescope identified water vapor in the atmosphere of WASP-18 b, and made a temperature map of the planet as it slipped behind, and reappeared from, its star.

Discovery Alert: Webb Maps and Finds Traces of Water in an Ultra-hot Gas Giant's Atmosphere

Discovery Alert: Webb Maps and Finds Traces of Water in an Ultra-hot Gas Giant's Atmosphere

A team of astrophysicists and citizen scientists have identified what may be some of the last planets NASA’s retired Kepler space telescope observed during its nearly decade-long mission.

Astronomers Discover Planets in NASA Kepler's Final Days of Observations

Astronomers Discover Planets in NASA Kepler's Final Days of Observations

Explore Alien Worlds

Exoplanet Travel Bureau

This set of travel posters envision a day when the creativity of scientists and engineers will allow us to do things we can only dream of now.

Strange New Worlds

Explore an interactive gallery of some of the most intriguing and exotic planets discovered so far.

A planetary tour through time. The ancients debated the existence of planets beyond our own; now we know of thousands.

Historic Timeline

A planetary tour through time. The ancients debated the existence of planets beyond our own; now we know of thousands.