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Coronagraph explanation 2 minutes

An animation explaining how the hybrid Lyot coronagraph works. Watch the longer version here.

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These plots from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope show light from a distant planet, GJ 436b, and its star, as measured at six different infrared wavelengths.
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How to Measure Exoplanet Light
How to Measure Exoplanet Light
Cluster of Stars in Kepler's Sight - This image zooms into a small portion of Kepler's full field of view -- an expansive, 100-square-degree patch of sky in our Milky Way galaxy.
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Star Cluster NGC 6791 from Kepler First Light Image
Star Cluster NGC 6791 from Kepler First Light Image
The graphic tells NASA's Kepler spacecraft's story by the numbers from the moment it began hunting for planets outside our solar system on May 12, 2009.
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Kepler's Six Years In Science (and Counting)
Kepler's Six Years In Science (and Counting)
This illustration shows three possible scenarios for the evolution of asteroid belts.
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Scenarios for the Evolution of Asteroid Belts
Scenarios for the Evolution of Asteroid Belts
An animation depicting various orbit geometries, some of which permit view of transits, and others that do not.
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Range of Views
Range of Views
This image from the NACO system on ESO’s Very Large Telescope shows a candidate protoplanet in the disc of gas and dust around the young star HD100546.
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VLT image of the protoplanet around the young star HD 100546
VLT image of the protoplanet around the young star HD 100546
An animation of an imagined Earth-sized exoplanet.
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Earth-like World
Small, rocky Earth-sized world
Audience: 3rd grade and older This slide compares the difference in size between planets in our solar system and with three kinds of exoplanets: Super Earth,  Neptunian and Gas Giants.
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This slide compares the difference in size between planets in our solar system and with three kinds of exoplanets: Super Earth,  Neptunian and Gas Giants.
Comparison of Planet Sizes: Exoplanets
The New Mexico Exoplanet Spectroscopic Survey Instrument (NESSI) will soon get its first "taste" of exoplanets, helping astronomers decipher their chemical composition.
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Exoplanets Soon to Gleam in the Eye of NESSI
Exoplanets Soon to Gleam in the Eye of NESSI
Launched in March 2009, NASA’s first planet-hunter confirmed more than 2,600 planets beyond our solar system. "Many stars have planets. A lot of these planets are Earth-sized. That's Kepler's legac...
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Video documentary about the legacy of the Kepler space telescope.
Kepler End of Flight Documentary
Planets having atmospheres rich in helium may be common in our galaxy, according to a new theory based on data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. These planets would be around the mass of Neptune...
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Helium-Shrouded Planets (Artist's Concept)
Helium-Shrouded Planets (Artist's Concept)
Audience: 5th grade and older (introduces Kelvin) This slide shows the difference in temperature between planets orbiting an M Dwarf star and our Sun. The second view shows their relative distan...
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This slide shows the difference in temperature between planets orbiting an M Dwarf star and our Sun. The second view shows their relative distance from their star.
Comparison of Host stars – with Solar System Planets (Kelvin)
Inverted image (dark stars on light sky) Stars in the image are all brighter than magnitude 18.5. Stars brighter than 11.5 are "saturated" (all look the same brightness in the image).
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Kepler Full Focal Plane Image - Inverted
Kepler Full Focal Plane Image - Inverted
There is only one planet we know of so far that is teeming with life–– Earth. If we want to find life on other planets, we start with the ingredients we know at home.
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Goldilocks Zone
Goldilocks Zone
The first Earth-size planet discovered around a near solar twin, the discovery of Kepler-452b brings us closer than ever to finding an Earth-like planet.
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Infographic: Profile of planet Kepler-452b
Infographic: Profile of planet Kepler-452b
Artistic rendering of a planet's transmission spectrum
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A Planet's Transmission Spectrum
A Planet's Transmission Spectrum
Astronomers detect lowest-mass planet around a star like the sun found using direct imaging techniques.
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Image of gas giant GJ 504b (annotated)
Image of gas giant GJ 504b (annotated)
Kepler-10b as a scorched world, orbiting at a distance that’s more than 20 times closer to its star than Mercury is to our own Sun.
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What Is Planet Kepler-10b Like?
What Is Planet Kepler-10b Like?
This slide explains and illustrates what a "habitable zone" is, and how it would change based on the size of the host star.
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Habitable zone
Habitable Zones Compared to the Size of the Hosting Star
Over its ten years in space, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has evolved into a premier tool for studying exoplanets.
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Spitzer: 10 years of surprises
Spitzer: 10 years of surprises
For the first time since exoplanets, or planets around stars other than the sun, were discovered almost 20 years ago, X-ray observations have detected an exoplanet passing in front of its parent st...
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Exo-eclipse in x-ray vision
Exo-eclipse in x-ray vision
Kepler is launched at night (10:48 PM EST) on a Delta 2 expendable launch vehicle.
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Kepler Launch and Deployment - Complete
Kepler Launch and Deployment - Complete
Twenty years ago astronomers discovered the first planet around a sun-like star, 51 Pegasi b. This is the story of the pioneers in planet-hunting and how those who have followed are now poised to a...
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The Search for Another Earth
The Search for Another Earth
This image shows our own back yard, astronomically speaking, from a vantage point about 30 light-years away from the sun. It highlights the population of tiny brown dwarfs recently discovered by NA...
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Highlighting our Tiniest Neighbors
Highlighting our Tiniest Neighbors
The basic chemistry for life has been detected in a second hot gas planet, HD 209458b, depicted in this artist's concept.
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Exotic Atmospheres
Exotic Atmospheres

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.
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Strange New Worlds

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

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Science Writer: Pat Brennan
Site Editor: Kristen Walbolt
Manager: Anya Biferno