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Exoplanet missions

A picture of future missions.

A graphic of present and future exoplanet missions from space agencies and observatories around the world.

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Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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This slide illustrates how planets form from dust over a few hundred million years inside protoplanetary disks. Steps illustrated in this slide include planetesimal, protoplanets, giant, and rocky ...
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an illustration of how planets form from dust over a few hundred million years
Planet Formation
The sweep of NASA Kepler mission’s search for small, habitable planets in the last six years.
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Searching for Habitable Worlds
Searching for Habitable Worlds
Exoplanets, planets beyond our solar system, whether orbiting other stars or floating freely between them, can make the planets closer to home look tame by comparison.
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An infographic shows giant gas planet, a small, terrestrial planet, a planet bigger than Earth, but smaller than Newptune.
Exoplanet Types Infographic
During 9.6 years in orbit, the Kepler space telescope observed more than half a million stars and discovered more than 2,600 planets. See the mission by the numbers.
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Kepler was in orbit 9.6 years, used 3.12 gallons of fuel, observed 530,506 stars and led to the discovery of 2,662 planets.
NASA's Kepler Mission By the Numbers
The Kepler mission found 1,284 new planets via the transit method. When a planet passes directly between its star and an observer, it dims the star's light by a measurable amount.
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The Kepler mission found 1,284 new planets via the transit method.
5 Ways to Find a Planet- Transits
Three astronomers in NASA Goddard's Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory discuss how Hubble's coronagraph and resulting images have helped scientists find planets orbiting distant stars.
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20 Years of Hubble Science
20 Years of Hubble Science
In this artist's concept, a distant, life-bearing world orbits two stars instead of one, seen from the surface in a pink sky – yet in some ways still might be considered similar to Earth.
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Artist's rendering of exoplanet surface
Marble in the Sky: the Hunt for Another Earth
The first planet to have its clouds mapped showed us what weather looked like on a planet outside our solar system.
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Infographic: Planet Kepler-7b, cloud mapped
Infographic: Profile of planet Kepler-7b
On August 25, 2003, NASA launched the Spitzer Space Telescope to reveal secrets of the infrared universe.
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Spitzer Space Telescope: 10 Years of Innovation
Spitzer Space Telescope: 10 Years of Innovation
This image from NASA's Kepler mission shows the telescope's full field of view -- an expansive star-rich patch of sky in the constellations Cygnus and Lyra.
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Full Focal Plane Image (First Light for Kepler Photometer)
Full Focal Plane Image (First Light for Kepler Photometer)
Space telescopes have pioneered the discovery of planets orbiting other stars in our galaxy; even more powerful versions will measure these planets' atmospheres in the future.   
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NASA’s array of technological marvels includes the Kepler Space Telescope, now retired, and its successor, TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, still operating on an extended mission. Both were built to hunt for those shadows – a tiny dip in starlight as an “exoplanet,” a planet beyond our solar system, crosses the face of its parent star. Finding exoplanet shadows is called the “transit” method.
The Searchers: How Will NASA Look for Signs of Life Beyond Earth?
This illustration shows the unusual orbit of planet Kepler-413b around a close pair of orange and red dwarf stars. The planet's 66-day orbit is tilted 2.5 degrees with respect to the plane of the b...
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Wobbly Planet Orbital Schematic (Illustration)
Wobbly Planet Orbital Schematic (Illustration)
This artist's concept illustrates Kepler-47, the first transiting circumbinary system -- multiple planets orbiting two suns – 4,900 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Cygnus.
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Sharing the Light of Two Suns
Sharing the Light of Two Suns
There are 4,696 planet candidates now known with the release of the seventh Kepler planet candidate catalog - an increase of 521 since the release of the previous catalog in Jan. 2015.
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Kepler Planet Candidates, July 2015
Kepler Planet Candidates, July 2015
At only four light-years away, Proxima b is our closest known exoplanet neighbor.
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An interactive 3D planet model of Proxima b.
Proxima b 3D Model
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
If astronomers could somehow pull planets out of the sky and analyze them in the laboratory, it might look something like this artistically altered image illustrating new research from NASA's Spitz...
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An Astronomer's Fantasy: Planets in the Lab
An Astronomer's Fantasy: Planets in the Lab
What do planets outside our solar system, or exoplanets, look like? A variety of possibilities are shown in this illustration. 
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Illustration of exoplanet types
Exoplanet Types - Illustration
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)
Observed transit depths and theoretical models for GJ 1214 b
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Observed transit for GJ 1214 b
Observed transit for GJ 1214 b
On this episode of Q&Alien, we talk about what the term "habitable zone" means - and what it doesn't.
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Q&Alien - What's a "habitable zone"?
Q&Alien - What's a "habitable zone"?
Volunteers using DiskDetective, a NASA-sponsored citizen science website to find potential planetary nurseries, have made 1 million classifications in less than a year. Goddard astrophysicist Marc ...
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'Disk Detectives' Top 1 Million Classifications in Search for Planetary Habitats
'Disk Detectives' Top 1 Million Classifications in Search for Planetary Habitats
Learn more about how to use the basic functions of Eyes on Exoplanets
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Eyes on Exoplanets Tutorial 1: The Basics
Eyes on Exoplanets Tutorial 1: The Basics
How do coronagraphs find exoplanets? Find out in this animation narrated by Dr. Nick Siegler, Technology Manager of the NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program.
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The Search for Alien Earths - How Coronagraphs Find Hidden Planets
The Search for Alien Earths - How Coronagraphs Find Hidden Planets
This slide explains the microlensing method for detecting exoplanets. 
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A slide that explains the microlensing method for detecting exoplanets.
Exoplanet Detection: Microlensing Method

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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