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Twenty Years of Progress

Twenty Years of Progress

This shows the first planet to be confirmed as an exoplanet, 51 Pegasi b, and the newest Earth-sized planet confirmed.

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NASA Ames/W. Stenzel

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Analysis of the exoplanet WASP-39b identified the sulfur dioxide. Its presence can only be explained by photocemistry.
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An infographic is headlined, Chemical Reactions Caused by Starlight. It shows an illustration of the surface of a reddish exoplanet beneath its star. Light from the star shines into the chemical reaction portrayed in the graphic. Here, you can see molecules interacting and forming new compounds. Photons from WASP-39 b’s nearby star interact with abundant water molecules (H2O) in the exoplanet’s atmosphere. The water splits into hydrogen atoms (H) and hydroxide (OH). The molecules continue to interact in the atmosphere. Hydrogen sulfide reacts with hydrogen and hydroxide in a series of steps. The process strips hydrogen and adds oxygen, eventually producing sulfur dioxide.
Infographic: Chemical Reactions Caused by Starlight
This is an artist's concept of the star HD 3651 as it is orbited by a close-in Saturn-mass planetary companion and the distant brown dwarf companion discovered by Spitzer infrared photographs.
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Brown Dwarf Companion
Brown Dwarf Companion
This far-off blue planet may look like a friendly haven – but don’t be deceived! Weather here is deadly. The cobalt color comes from a hazy, blow-torched atmosphere containing clouds laced with gla...
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A poster done in the style of a vintage poster for a horror movie. Reading "Rains of Terror" It's death by a million cuts on this slasher planet. Jagged edges of glass can be seen battering a spacecraft on this alien world.
Rains of Terror Poster
During the four years of science operations, the pointing precision of the spacecraft was controlled to within a few milli-arcseconds. That is the equivalent of keeping your gaze steady on a grain ...
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Kepler's Precision Pointing
Kepler's Precision Pointing
While there is much debate over which exoplanet discovery is considered the "first," one stands out from the rest. In 1995, scientists discovered 51 Pegasi b, forever changing the way we see the un...
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Greetings from your First Exoplanet
Greetings from your First Exoplanet
Artist's impression of the planetary system around the red dwarf Gliese 581.
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The Planetary System in Gliese 581 (artist's impression)
The Planetary System in Gliese 581 (artist's impression)
This artist's animation shows a celestial body about the size of our moon slamming at great speed into a body the size of Mercury.
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Planetary Demolition Derby
Planetary Demolition Derby
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
This artist's concept shows "The Behemoth," an enormous comet-like cloud of hydrogen bleeding off of a warm, Neptune-sized planet just 30 light-years from Earth. Also depicted is the parent star (a...
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"Behemoth" Bleeding Atmosphere Around a Warm Exoplanet
"Behemoth" Bleeding Atmosphere Around a Warm Exoplanet
An artist's impression of a red supergiant engulfing a Jupiter-like planet as it expands.
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Hungry Red Giant
Hungry Red Giant
This artist's animation flies through the Kepler-20 star system, where NASA's Kepler mission discovered the first Earth-size planets around a star beyond our own.
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Kepler-20e -- The Smallest Exoplanet (Artist's Concept)
Kepler-20e -- The Smallest Exoplanet (Artist's Concept)
55 Cancri e is a super Earth exoplanet that orbits a G-type star. Its mass is 8.08 Earths, it takes 0.7 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.01544 AU from its star. Its discovery was an...
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An interactive 3D planet model of the exoplanet 55 Cancri e.
55 Cancri e 3D Model
Celebrate Valetine's Day with a hot Jupiter that tightly hugs its star.
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A Valentine for a Hot Jupiter
Hot Jupiter Valentine
This artist's concept shows the Kepler spacecraft.
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Kepler in Space (Artist Concept)
Kepler in Space (Artist Concept)
The more than 5,000 exoplanets confirmed in our galaxy so far include a variety of types – some that are similar to planets in our solar system, others vastly different.
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Infographic of exoplanet types
5000 Exoplanets Infographic
¡Esta galaxia escalofriantemente encantada dejó de crear estrellas, de manera misteriosa, solo unos pocos miles de millones de años tras el Big Bang!
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Una estrella escarlata se cierne tras las ruinas de un exoplaneta que se asemeja en su forma a una calavera. Un brazo de galaxia rojo es visible en el fondo. Es evidente que esta galaxia, llamada MACS 2129-1, ha estado deteriorándose desde que dejó de producir estrellas solo unos pocos miles de millones de años después del Big Bang.
Cementerio Galáctico
Large gas-giant planets like Jupiter may be more rare in the galaxy than small, rocky worlds like Earth.
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Where are the Giants?
Where are the Giants?
This artist's concept shows the searing-hot gas planet WASP-12b (orange orb) and its star.
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Hot, Carbon-Rich Planet
Hot, Carbon-Rich Planet
Relative sizes of Kepler habitable zone planets discovered as of 2013 April 18. Except for Earth, these are artists' renditions.
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Lining Kepler Habitable Zone Planets Up
Lining Kepler Habitable Zone Planets Up
A newly discovered exoplanet, Kepler-452b, takes us closer than ever to finding a planet that looks like our own. This super-Earth is 60% larger than our home world, but its year is only 20 days lo...
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What if there is some place like home?
What if there is some place like home?
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)
Hubble finds a deep-blue exoplanet that may feature pummeling showers of glass rain moving at 4,500 mph. Care to visit?
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Blue and bizzarre
Blue and bizarre
In the three and a half years of its primary mission, NASA's Kepler spacecraft produced a mountain of data. Astronomers continue to mine it, finding new likely planets all the time - including Kepl...
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Getting Closer to Another Earth: Kepler's 4500+ Planet Candidates
Getting Closer to Another Earth: Kepler's 4500+ Planet Candidates
This diagram compares the planets of our inner solar system to Kepler-186, a five-planet star system about 500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. The five planets of Kepler-186 orb...
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Kepler-186 and the Solar System
Kepler-186 and the Solar System
The doomed egg-shaped exoplanet WASP-12b is a hot Jupiter that orbits so close to its parent star, it's being torn apart.
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An interactive 3D planet model of WASP-12b.
WASP-12b 3D Model

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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