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Getting Closer to Another Earth: Kepler's 4500+ Planet Candidates

The discovery that changed the way we see our universe: 51 Pegasi b

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Infographic: Profile of planet 51 Pegasi b

The first exoplanet discovered around a sun-like star, 51 Pegasi b made us question what we knew of our universe and launched the search for new worlds.

Credit

NASA/JPL-Caltech

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This plot of data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope tells astronomers that a toasty gas exoplanet, or a planet beyond our solar system, contains water vapor.

Exoplanet Forecast: Hot and Wet

Exoplanet Forecast: Hot and Wet

A team of researchers has devised a way to measure the internal properties of stars—a method that offers more accurate assessments of their orbiting planets.

Verified by vibration

Verified by vibration

NASA's Kepler mission has discovered 11 new planetary systems hosting 26 confirmed planets. These discoveries nearly double the number of verified Kepler planets and triple the number of stars known to have more than one planet that transits the star.

NASA's Kepler announces 11 new planetary systems

NASA's Kepler announces 11 new planetary systems

This map, the first-ever of the surface of an exoplanet, shows temperature variations across the cloudy tops of a gas giant called HD 189733b.

First Map of an Exoplanet Atmosphere

First Map of an Exoplanet Atmosphere

An unusual, methane-free world is partially eclipsed by its star in this artist's concept.

Exotic Exoplanet

Exotic Exoplanet

This image, taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, shows the planet Fomalhaut b, orbiting its parent star, Fomalhaut.

HST Image of Fomalhaut and Fomalhaut b

HST Image of Fomalhaut and Fomalhaut 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 faint red dwarf) of expolanet GJ 436.

"Behemoth" Bleeding Atmosphere Around a Warm Exoplanet

"Behemoth" Bleeding Atmosphere Around a Warm Exoplanet

The basic chemistry for life has been detected in a second hot gas planet, HD 209458b, depicted in this artist's concept.

Exotic Atmospheres

Exotic Atmospheres

This illustration shows one of the three newly discovered planets in the star cluster Messier 67.

Messier 67: Star Cluster

Messier 67: Star Cluster

Highlighted are 12 new planet candidates from the seventh Kepler planet candidate catalog that are less than twice the size of Earth and orbit in the stars' habitable zone—the range of distances from a star where liquid water could exist on the surface of an orbiting planet.

Twelve New Small Kepler Habitable Zone Candidates

Twelve New Small Kepler Habitable Zone Candidates

Astronomers can detect the presence of disks of dust orbiting distant stars by measuring how the combined light from the star and disk changes across different wavelengths.

The Invisible Disk

The Invisible Disk

This artist's conception shows the 30 Ari system, which includes four stars and a planet.

Planet With Four Stars (Artist's Concept)

Planet With Four Stars (Artist's Concept)

The flower you see in this picture isn’t NASA’s attempt to celebrate the coming of spring. It’s actually the latest design in a cutting-edge effort to take pictures of planets orbiting stars far from the sun.

Flower power: NASA starshade petal prototype

Flower power: NASA starshade petal prototype

This artist's concept shows what a fiery hot star and its close-knit planetary companion might look close up if viewed in visible (left) and infrared light.

Blinded by the Light

Blinded by the Light

This artist's illustration shows the atmosphere of a brown dwarf called 2MASSJ22282889-431026, which was observed simultaneously by NASA's Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes.

Anatomy of Brown Dwarf's Atmosphere

Anatomy of Brown Dwarf's Atmosphere

Artist's impression of a transiting Jupiter-mass exoplanet around a star slightly more massive than the Sun, such as the one discovered around SWEEPS-04.

Increasing the Odds of the Sweep

Increasing the Odds of the Sweep

For Valentine's Day, give the tight-knit Kepler-11 to your faves.

An illustration of an exoplanet Valentine.

Planetary System Valentine

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have made the first direct detection of the atmosphere of a planet orbiting a star outside our solar system. The planet orbits a yellow, Sun-like star called HD 209458, located 150 light-years away in the constellation Pegasus.

This artist's conception shows the object named WISE J085510.83-071442.5, the coldest known brown dwarf. Brown dwarfs are dim star-like bodies that lack the mass to burn nuclear fuel as stars do.

Cold and Close Celestial Orb (Artist's Concept)

Cold and Close Celestial Orb (Artist's Concept)

NASA's Juno mission will help us solve the mystery of how hot Jupiters and other planets form.

A hot Jupiter races toward its star, only to be halted by a stop sign, symbolizing drag.

The mystery of planet formation

The diagram compares the planets of the inner solar system to Kepler-62, a five-planet system about 1,200 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra.

Kepler-62 and the Solar System

Kepler-62 and the Solar System

The third closest star system to the sun, called WISE J104915.57-531906, is at the center of the larger image, which was taken by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). It appeared to be a single object, but a sharper image (inset) from Gemini Observatory in Chile, revealed that it was binary star system, consisting of a pair of brown dwarfs.

Brown Dwarfs in our 'Backyard'

Brown Dwarfs in our 'Backyard'

Twice as big in volume as the Earth, HD 40307 g straddles the line between "Super-Earth" and "mini-Neptune" and scientists aren't sure if it has a rocky surface or one that's buried beneath thick layers of gas and ice. One thing is certain though: at eight times the Earth's mass, its gravitational pull is much, much stronger.

Experience the Gravity of a Super Earth

This plot shows the masses and sizes of the smallest exoplanets for which both quantities have been measured. The solar system planets (shown in red) are for comparison.

Mars-size Kepler-138b Gets a Mass

Mars-size Kepler-138b Gets a Mass

Kepler focal plane assembly in a clean room.

Kepler focal plane assembly

Kepler focal plane assembly

This artist's conception illustrates the brown dwarf named 2MASSJ22282889-431026.

Forecast for Exotic Weather

Forecast for Exotic Weather

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.

Kepler's Six Years In Science (and Counting)

Kepler's Six Years In Science (and Counting)

The New Mexico Exoplanet Spectroscopic Survey Instrument (NESSI) will soon get its first "taste" of exoplanets, helping astronomers decipher their chemical composition.

Exoplanets Soon to Gleam in the Eye of NESSI

Exoplanets Soon to Gleam in the Eye of NESSI

An artist's conception of Kepler-78b orbiting its parent star once every 8.5 hours.

This plot of data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope tells astronomers that a toasty gas exoplanet, or a planet beyond our solar system, contains water vapor.

Exoplanet Forecast: Hot and Wet

Exoplanet Forecast: Hot and Wet

This artist's concept shows a brown dwarf surrounded by a swirling disk of planet-building dust.

Solar System in the Making

Solar System in the Making

Kepler-11 is a sun-like star around which six planets orbit. At times, two or more planets pass in front of the star at once, as shown in this artist's conception of a simultaneous transit of three planets observed by NASA's Kepler spacecraft on Aug. 26, 2010.

Extraordinary New Planetary System

Extraordinary New Planetary System

This chart locates the fifth-magnitude star GJ 504, also known as 59 Virginis, which is visible to the unaided eye from suburban skies.

Finding GJ504 in the night sky

Finding GJ504 in the night sky

Do other planets beyond our solar system, called exoplanets, also host life forms?

In the Zone: How Scientists Search for Habitable Planets

In the Zone: How Scientists Search for Habitable Planets

"Einstein's planet," formally known as Kepler-76b, is a "hot Jupiter" that orbits its star every 1.5 days. This artist's conception shows Kepler-76b orbiting its host star, which has been tidally distorted into a slight football shape (exaggerated here for effect).

"Einstein's Planet," Kepler-76b

"Einstein's Planet," Kepler-76b

This illustration shows three possible scenarios for the evolution of asteroid belts.

Scenarios for the Evolution of Asteroid Belts

Scenarios for the Evolution of Asteroid Belts

Astronomers detect lowest-mass planet around a star like the sun found using direct imaging techniques.

Image of gas giant GJ 504b

Image of gas giant GJ 504b

Scientists were excited to discover clear skies on a relatively small planet, about the size of Neptune, using the combined power of NASA's Hubble, Spitzer and Kepler space telescopes.

A Sunny Outlook for 'Weather' on Exoplanets (Artist's Concept)

A Sunny Outlook for 'Weather' on Exoplanets (Artist's Concept)

Artist’s conception of the extrasolar ring system circling the young giant planet or brown dwarf J1407b. The rings are shown eclipsing the young sun-like star J1407, as they would have appeared in early 2007.

J1407b: Super-Saturn

J1407b: Super-Saturn

The sweep of NASA Kepler mission’s search for small, habitable planets in the last six years.

Searching for Habitable Worlds

Searching for Habitable Worlds

An artist's impression of a red supergiant engulfing a Jupiter-like planet as it expands.

Hungry Red Giant

Hungry Red Giant

This artist's concept depicts Kepler-186f, the first validated Earth-size planet to orbit a distant star in the habitable zone -- a range of distance from a star where liquid water might pool on the planet's surface. The discovery of Kepler-186f confirms that Earth-size planets exist in the habitable zones of other stars and signals a significant step closer to finding a world similar to Earth.

Kepler-186f, the First Earth-size Planet in the Habitable Zone (Artist's Concept)

Kepler-186f, the First Earth-size Planet in the Habitable Zone (Artist's Concept)

This size and scale of the Kepler-452 system compared alongside the Kepler-186 system and the solar system.

Kepler-452 and the Solar System

Kepler-452 and the Solar System

The king of our solar system is a runt compared to some exoplanets called "hot Jupiters."

Kepler-7b is a hot Jupiter 1.5 times Jupiter's radius, making it look small in comparison.

The King of Gas Giants

This artist concept depicts "multiple-transiting planet systems," which are stars with more than one planet. The planets eclipse, or transit, their host stars from the vantage point of the observer. This angle is called edge-on. NASA's Kepler Space Telescope has found hundreds of these multiple-planet systems.

Star System Bonanza

Star System Bonanza

This graph of data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows how astronomers located a hot spot on a distant gas planet named upsilon Andromedae b -- and learned that it was in the wrong place.

How to Find a Planetary Hot Spot

How to Find a Planetary Hot Spot

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.

Star Cluster NGC 6791 from Kepler First Light Image

Star Cluster NGC 6791 from Kepler First Light Image

The artistic impression shows NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft operating in a new mission profile called K2.

Reborn Kepler Can Still Find Planets

Reborn Kepler Can Still Find Planets

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have taken the first ever image of the snow line in an infant planetary system.

Artist’s impression of snow lines around TW Hydrae

Artist’s impression of snow lines around TW Hydrae

This artist's conception compares the KOI-961 planetary system to Jupiter and the largest four of its many moons. Image credit: Caltech

KOI-961 and its three known planets

KOI-961 and its three known planets

An artist's conception shows the Kepler-10 system, home to two rocky planets. In the foreground is Kepler-10c, a planet that weighs 17 times as much as Earth and is more than twice as large in size. Planet formation theorists are challenged to explain how such a massive world could have formed.

Kepler-10 System

Kepler-10 System

This artist's concept illustrates two planetary systems -- 55 Cancri (top) and our own. Blue lines show the orbits of planets, including the dwarf planet Pluto in our solar system.

Our Solar System's Cousin?

Our Solar System's Cousin?

The Kepler spacecraft, responsible for thousands of new potential disoveries.

Kepler Spacecraft

Kepler Spacecraft

Researchers have detected the first "exomoon" candidate -- a moon orbiting a planet that lies outside our solar system. Using a technique called "microlensing," they observed what could be either a moon and a planet -- or a planet and a star.

Moon or Planet? The 'Exomoon Hunt' Continues (Artist's Concept)

Moon or Planet? The 'Exomoon Hunt' Continues (Artist's Concept)

This composite image represents the close environment of Beta Pictoris as seen in near infrared light. This very faint environment is revealed after a very careful subtraction of the much brighter stellar halo.

Beta Pictoris as Seen in Infrared Light

Beta Pictoris as Seen in Infrared Light

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.

Planetary Demolition Derby

Planetary Demolition Derby

This artist's concept illustrates an icy planet-forming disk around a young star called TW Hydrae, located about 175 light-years away in the Hydra, or Sea Serpent, constellation.

Misty Star in the Sea Serpent

Misty Star in the Sea Serpent

The top graph consists of infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. It tells astronomers that a distant planet, called Upsilon Andromedae b, always has a giant hot spot on the side that faces the star, while the other side is cold and dark. The artist's concepts above the graph illustrate how the planet might look throughout its orbit if viewed up close with infrared eyes.

The Light and Dark Sides of a Distant Planet

The Light and Dark Sides of a Distant Planet

This closeup of an image captured by the SOFI instrument on ESOs New Technology Telescope at the La Silla Observatory shows the free-floating planet CFBDSIR J214947.2-040308.9 in infrared light.

The free-floating planet CFBDSIR J214947.2-040308.9

The free-floating planet CFBDSIR J214947.2-040308.9

This infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope tells astronomers that a distant gas planet, a so-called "hot Jupiter" called HD 209458b, might be smothered with high clouds. It is one of the first spectra of an alien world.

Cracking the Code of Faraway Worlds: an Exoplanet Atmosphere

Cracking the Code of Faraway Worlds: an Exoplanet Atmosphere

This graph shows the brightness variations of the brown dwarf named 2MASSJ22282889-431026 measured simultaneously by both NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes.

Probing Brown Dwarf Layers

Probing Brown Dwarf Layers

Close-up of the planet Fomalhaut b as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. Fomalhaut b was discovered in Hubble data in 2008.

HST ACS/HRC Wide View of Fomalhaut b Planet in 2004 and 2006

HST ACS/HRC Wide View of Fomalhaut b Planet in 2004 and 2006

The distribution of Kepler planet candidates by size as of January 2015.

Kepler Planet Candidates, January 2015

Kepler Planet Candidates, January 2015

This artist's concept illustrates how planetary systems arise out of massive collisions between rocky bodies.

The Rocky World of Young Planetary Systems (Annotated)

The Rocky World of Young Planetary Systems (Annotated)

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, or lighter, and would orbit close to their stars, basking in their searing heat.

Helium-Shrouded Planets (Artist's Concept)

Helium-Shrouded Planets (Artist's Concept)

The conception illustration depicts how solar pressure can be used to balance NASA's Kepler spacecraft, keeping the telescope stable enough to continue monitoring distant stars in search of transiting planets.

Kepler's Second Light: How K2 Will Work

Kepler's Second Light: How K2 Will Work

Of the more than 1,000 verified planets found by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, eight are less than twice Earth-size and in their stars' habitable zone. All eight orbit stars cooler and smaller than our sun. The search continues for Earth-size habitable zone worlds around sun-like stars.

NASA Kepler's Hall of Fame: Small Habitable Zone Exoplanets

NASA Kepler's Hall of Fame: Small Habitable Zone Exoplanets

The artistic concept shows the planetary system harboring Kepler-138b, the first exoplanet smaller than Earth with both a mass and size measurement.

A Mars-size Exoplanet

A Mars-size Exoplanet

The artist's conception shows a hypothetical planet with two moons orbiting in the habitable zone of a red dwarf star.

Red Dwarf Planet

Red Dwarf Planet

This artist's concept illustrates the fate of two different planets: the one on the left is similar to Earth, made up largely of silicate-based rocks with oceans coating its surface.

A Tale of Two Worlds: Silicate Versus Carbon Planets (Artist Concept)

A Tale of Two Worlds: Silicate Versus Carbon Planets (Artist Concept)

The Kepler photometer is lowered onto the spacecraft in a clean room.

Kepler Photometer Being Lowered onto Spacecraft

Kepler Photometer Being Lowered onto Spacecraft

Five years ago today, on March 6, 2009, NASA's Kepler Space Telescope rocketed into the night skies above Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to find planets around other stars, called exoplanets, in search of potentially habitable worlds.

Kepler Marks Five Years in Space

Kepler Marks Five Years in Space

This diagram compares our own solar system to Kepler-47, a double-star system containing two planets, one orbiting in the so-called "habitable zone." This is the sweet spot in a planetary system where liquid water might exist on the surface of a planet.

Orbiting in the Habitable Zone of Two Suns

Orbiting in the Habitable Zone of Two Suns

The Gliese 581 planetary system now has four known planets

This image captured by the SOFI instrument on ESOs New Technology Telescope at the La Silla Observatory shows the free-floating planet CFBDSIR J214947.2-040308.9 in infrared light.

The free-floating planet CFBDSIR J214947.2-040308.9 (annotated)

The free-floating planet CFBDSIR J214947.2-040308.9 (annotated)

First we learned the Earth was round. Then we found out we were not at the center of the cosmos, just another planet orbiting the sun...

A Whole New Universe

A Whole New Universe

A unique feature of the seventh Kepler candidate catalog is that it is the first to fully automate the assessment of transit-like signals. The total height of each bar shows the total number of Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs), or transit-like signals, in each catalog.

Assessment of Kepler Dataset

Assessment of Kepler Dataset

This artist's concept illustrates the hottest planet yet observed in the Universe. The scorching ball of gas, a "hot Jupiter" called HD 149026b, is about 3 times hotter than the surface of Venus.

Blacker than Black

Blacker than Black

This artist's concept shows a hypothetical "rejuvenated" planet -- a gas giant that has reclaimed its youthful infrared glow.

Hypothetical 'Rejuvenated' Planets (Artist's Concept)

Hypothetical 'Rejuvenated' Planets (Artist's Concept)

Kepler-10b must be a scorched world, orbiting at a distance that's more than 20 times closer to its star than Mercury is to our own Sun, with a daytime temperature expected to be more than 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit.

Imagined View from Planet Kepler 10-B

Imagined View from Planet Kepler 10-B

The "super-Jupiter" Kappa Andromedae b, shown here in an artist's rendering, circles its star at nearly twice the distance that Neptune orbits the sun. With a mass about 13 times Jupiter's, the object glows with a reddish color.

Artist's rendering of the "super-Jupiter" Kappa Andromedae b

Artist's rendering of the "super-Jupiter" Kappa Andromedae b

An artist’s impression of a transiting exoplanet, named 'HD 189733b' - the first exoplanet found to have water vapor in its atmosphere.

Water, water everywhere - on an extrasolar planet

Water, water everywhere - on an extrasolar planet

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.

Sharing the Light of Two Suns

Sharing the Light of Two Suns

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 binary stars' orbit. The orbit of the planet wobbles around the central stars over 11 years, an effect called precession.

Wobbly Planet Orbital Schematic (Illustration)

Wobbly Planet Orbital Schematic (Illustration)

NASA's Kepler mission has discovered the first Earth-size planets orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system.

This artist's concept depicts giant planets circling between belts of dust. Scientists think the star system HD 95068 may have a planetary architecture similar to this.

Hidden in a Dust Halo

Hidden in a Dust Halo

Transit data are rich with information. By measuring the depth of the dip in brightness and knowing the size of the star, scientists can determine the size or radius of the planet. The orbital period of the planet can be determined by measuring the elapsed time between transits. Once the orbital period is known, Kepler's Third Law of Planetary Motion can be applied to determine the average distance of the planet from its stars.

Light Curve of a Planet Transiting Its Star

Light Curve of a Planet Transiting Its Star

A new study using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has shown that a planet is making the star that it orbits act much older than it actually is, as explained in our latest press release. The artist’s illustration featured in the main part of this graphic depicts the star, WASP-18, and its planet, WASP-18b.

WASP-18b: A 'Hot Jupiter'

WASP-18b: A 'Hot Jupiter'

The artist's concept depicts Kepler-62f, a super-Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of a star smaller and cooler than the sun, located about 1,200 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra.

Kepler-62f, a Small Habitable Zone World (Artist Concept)

Kepler-62f, a Small Habitable Zone World (Artist Concept)

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows a visible light view of the outer dust around the young star HD100546. The position of the newly discovered protoplanet is marked with an orange spot.

NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope view of the dust disc around the young star HD 100546

NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope view of the dust disc around the young star HD 100546

This artist's concept depicts an itsy bitsy planetary system -- so compact, in fact, that it's more like Jupiter and its moons than a star and its planets.

Kepler's Mini Planetary System

Kepler's Mini Planetary System

We now believe there is at least one planet for every star in our galaxy. This could mean as many as 100 to 400 BILLION planets in our galaxy alone. This major finding from the Kepler mission, launched in 2009, reveals a crowded galaxy and the sheer magnitude of potential discoveries: strange worlds we never thought could exist, and maybe one day, a world like our own.

Each Planet Is Unique, Every 100 Billion+ of Them

Each Planet Is Unique, Every 100 Billion+ of Them

A whole new category of planets, Super Earths are quite common in our galaxy.

Super Earth—Super Girth

Super Earth—Super Girth

This artist's concept illustrates how planetary systems arise out of massive collisions between rocky bodies.

The Rocky World of Young Planetary Systems

The Rocky World of Young Planetary Systems

Hubble finds a deep-blue exoplanet that may feature pummeling showers of glass rain moving at 4,500 mph. Care to visit?

Blue and bizzarre

Blue and bizzarre

This artist's concept depicts a planetary system discovered by Aleksander Wolszczan in 1992 around a pulsar.

Extreme Planets

Extreme Planets

Astronomers were surprised to see these data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope in January 2013, showing a huge eruption of dust around a star called NGC 2547-ID8. In this plot, infrared brightness is represented on the vertical axis, and time on the horizontal axis. The data at left show infrared light from the dust around the star back in 2012. Between 2012 and 2013, Spitzer had to stop observing the star because it was located behind the sun, as seen from Spitzer's Earth-trailing orbit.

Witnessing a Planetary Wreckage

Witnessing a Planetary Wreckage

Astronomers have discovered a transiting exoplanet with the longest known year. Located beyond the "snow line" this planet may give clues about planetary migration.

Transiting Exoplanet with Longest Known Year

Transiting Exoplanet with Longest Known Year

This artist’s impression shows the remarkable planetary system around the Sun-like star HD 10180.

The Planetary System Around the Sun-like Star HD 10180

The Planetary System Around the Sun-like Star HD 10180

For a tidally locked planet there is no day or night, only freezing darkness on one side and burning constant sunlight on the other. The terminator zone is bathed in constant twilight and would likely be the only place on the planet to be potentially hospitable.

Earth at Twilight

Tidally locked planets (Earth at Twilight)

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).

Kepler Full Focal Plane Image - Inverted

Kepler Full Focal Plane Image - Inverted

The first discovery of an Earth-size planet in the habitable zones of another star meant planets other than Earth may have liquid water on their surface.

Infographic: Planet Kepler-186f, trailblazer

Infographic: Planet Kepler-186f, trailblazer

Our Milky Way galaxy contains a minimum of 100 billion planets according to a detailed statistical study based on the detection of three extrasolar planets by an observational technique called microlensing.

Extrasolar Planet Detected by Gravitational Microlensing

Extrasolar Planet Detected by Gravitational Microlensing

One of the first exoplanets ever discovered, Gamma Cepehi A b is a comeback story.

An infographic depicting one of the first exoplanets discovered.

First Discoveries: Gamma Cephei A b

This artist concept illustrates how a massive collision of objects, perhaps as large as the planet Pluto, smashed together to create the dust ring around the nearby star Vega. New observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope indicate the collision took place within the last one million years.

Massive Smash-Up at Vega

Massive Smash-Up at Vega

This graph of data from NASA's Spitzer Space telescope shows changes in the infrared light output of two star-planet systems (one above, one below) located hundreds of light-years away.

The Language of Planetary Light

The Language of Planetary Light

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 orbit an M dwarf, a star that is half the size and mass of the sun.

Kepler-186 and the Solar System

Kepler-186 and the Solar System

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.

Brown Dwarf Companion

Brown Dwarf Companion

Researchers using data from NASA's Kepler space telescope have shown that migrating planets stop their inward journey before reaching their stars, as illustrated in this artist's concept.

On the Road Toward a Star, Planets Halt Their Migration (Artist Concept)

On the Road Toward a Star, Planets Halt Their Migration (Artist Concept)

Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have detected what they believe is an alien world just two-thirds the size of Earth one of the smallest on record.

Exoplanet is Extremely Hot and Incredibly Close (Artist's Concept)

Exoplanet is Extremely Hot and Incredibly Close (Artist's Concept)

This infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope called a spectrum tells astronomers that a distant gas planet, a so-called "hot Jupiter" called HD 209458b, might be smothered with high clouds. It is one of the first spectra of an alien world.

Cracking the Code of Faraway Worlds: an Exoplanet Atmosphere

Cracking the Code of Faraway Worlds: an Exoplanet Atmosphere

This artist's conception illustrates Kepler-22b, a planet known to comfortably circle in the habitable zone of a sun-like star. It is the first planet that NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed to orbit in a star's habitable zone - the region around a star where liquid water, a requirement for life on Earth, could persist.

Kepler-22b: Closer to Finding Another Earth

Kepler-22b: Closer to Finding Another Earth

Observed transit depths and theoretical models for GJ 1214 b

Observed transit for GJ 1214 b

Observed transit for GJ 1214 b

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 longer than ours. That places it quite comfortably in the habitable zone of a star very much like our sun.

What if there is some place like home?

What if there is some place like home?

This chart shows most of the stars visible with the unaided eye on a clear night. The star Alpha Centauri is one of the brightest stars in the southern sky (marked with a red circle). It lies just 4.3 light-years from the Earth and one component in a triple star system.

Alpha Centauri in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur)

Alpha Centauri in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur)

Artistic rendering of a planet's transmission spectrum

A Planet's Transmission Spectrum

A Planet's Transmission Spectrum

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 star.

Exo-eclipse in x-ray vision - illustration only

Exo-eclipse in x-ray vision - illustration only

This year we celebrate the discovery of 51 Pegasi b in October, 1995. This giant planet is about half the size of Jupiter and orbits its star in about 4 days. '51 Peg’ helped launch a whole new field of exploration.

The discovery that changed the way we see our universe: 51 Pegasi b

The discovery that changed the way we see our universe: 51 Pegasi b

This artist's concept depicts in the foreground planet Kepler-62f, a super-Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of its star, which is seen peeking out from behind the right edge of the planet.

Morning Star (Artist Concept)

Morning Star (Artist Concept)

An artist's illustration of Kepler-64b or PH1, a planet discovered by volunteers from the Planet Hunters citizen science project. PH1, shown in the foreground, is the first reported case of a planet orbiting a double-star that, in turn, is orbited by a second distant pair of stars. The phenomenon is called a circumbinary planet in a four-star system.

Kepler-64b: Four Star Planet

Kepler-64b: Four Star Planet

Astronomers detect lowest-mass planet around a star like the sun found using direct imaging techniques.

Astronomers Image Lowest-mass Exoplanet Around a Sun-like Star

Astronomers Image Lowest-mass Exoplanet Around a Sun-like Star

This artist's concept shows what the weather might look like on cool star-like bodies known as brown dwarfs. These giant balls of gas start life like stars, but lack the mass to sustain nuclear fusion at their cores, and instead, fade and cool with time.

Storms on Brown Dwarfs

Storms on Brown Dwarfs

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 Spitzer Space Telescope.

An Astronomer's Fantasy: Planets in the Lab

An Astronomer's Fantasy: Planets in the Lab

This artist's concept shows how astronomers use the unique orbit of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and a depth-perceiving trick called parallax to determine the distance of dark planets, black holes, and failed stars which lurk invisibly among us.

Depth Perception in Space

Depth Perception in Space

This false-color near-infrared image has been processed to remove most of the scattered light from the star Kappa Andromedae to reveal its "super-Jupiter" companion, Kappa Andromedae b.

Image of the "super-Jupiter" Kappa Andromedae b

Image of the "super-Jupiter" Kappa Andromedae b

Today Kepler-452b is receiving 10 percent more energy from its parent star than the Earth is from the Sun. If Kepler-452b had the same mass as Earth it would be on the verge of experiencing the runaway greenhouse effect and the loss of its water inventory.

A Window Into Time

A Window Into Time

This is an artist's impression of the view from the vicinity of a hypothetical terrestrial planet and moon orbiting the red dwarf star AU Microscopii.

The View from Within AU Microscopii's Disk

The View from Within AU Microscopii's Disk

Large gas-giant planets like Jupiter may be more rare in the galaxy than small, rocky worlds like Earth.

Where are the Giants?

Where are the Giants?

This artist's concept depicts one possible appearance of the planet Kepler-452b, the first near-Earth-size world to be found in the habitable zone of star that is similar to our sun.

Soaking up the Rays of a Sun-like Star - Artistic Concept

Soaking up the Rays of a Sun-like Star - Artistic Concept

Kepler-7b (left), which is 1.5 times the radius of Jupiter (right), is the first exoplanet to have its clouds mapped. This artist's concept shows what those clouds might look like. The cloud map was produced using data from NASA's Kepler and Spitzer space telescopes.

Partially Cloudy Skies on Kepler-7b (Artist's Concept)

Partially Cloudy Skies on Kepler-7b (Artist's Concept)

In the star cluster NGC 6811, astronomers have found two planets smaller than Neptune orbiting sun-like stars.

First Transiting Planets in a Star Cluster Discovered

First Transiting Planets in a Star Cluster Discovered

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

Twenty Years of Progress

Twenty Years of Progress

A list of current and future missions that have a role in searching for new worlds.

Exoplanet Missions

Exoplanet Missions

This artist's rendition shows one possible appearance for the planet HD 219134b, the nearest confirmed rocky exoplanet found to date outside our solar system.

Hot, Rocky World (Artist's Concept)

Hot, Rocky World (Artist's Concept)

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 universe and our place in it.

Greetings from your First Exoplanet

Greetings from your First Exoplanet

This sky map shows the location of the star HD 219134 circle), host to the nearest confirmed rocky planet found to date outside of our solar system.

Location of Nearest Rocky Exoplanet Known

Location of Nearest Rocky Exoplanet Known

This artist's concept illustrates what the night sky might look like from a hypothetical alien planet in a star system with an asteroid belt 25 times as massive as the one in our own solar system (alien system above, ours below).

Alien Asteroid Belt Compared to our Own

Alien Asteroid Belt Compared to our Own

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.

Kepler-20e -- The Smallest Exoplanet (Artist's Concept)

Kepler-20e -- The Smallest Exoplanet (Artist's Concept)

Some giant planets, many times the size of Jupiter, are puffed up.

Less Mass, More Gas

Less Mass, More Gas

The artistic concept compares Earth (left) to the new planet, called Kepler-452b, which is about 60 percent larger. The illustration represents one possible appearance for Kepler-452b -- scientists do not know whether the planet has oceans and continents like Earth.

Comparison between Earth and Kepler-452b and their host stars

Comparison between Earth and Kepler-452b and their host stars

This artist's conception shows Kepler-36c as it might look from the surface of neighboring Kepler-36b.

A Planetary Odd Couple

A Planetary Odd Couple

The exoplanet Corot-7b is so close to its Sun-like host star that it must experience extreme conditions. This planet has a mass five times that of Earth’s and is in fact the closest known exoplanet to its host star, which also makes it the fastest — it orbits its star at a speed of more than 750 000 kilometres per hour.

Artist's impression of Corot-7b

Artist's impression of Corot-7b

PSO J318.5-22 belongs to a special class of planets called rogue, or free-floating, planets. Wandering alone in the galaxy, they do not orbit a parent star. These rogue planets glow faintly from the heat of their formation. Once they cool down, they will be dancing in the dark.

Where the Nightlife Never Ends

This image from NASA's Kepler spacecraft shows the telescope's field of view taken in a new demonstration mode in late October. A new mission concept, dubbed K2, would continue Kepler's search for other worlds, and introduce new opportunities to observe star clusters, young and old stars, active galaxies and supernovae.

NASA Kepler's Second Light

NASA Kepler's Second Light

This diagram illustrates how astronomers can capture the elusive spectra of hot-Jupiter planets by comparing observations including light from both the star and planet to those containing just the star.

Isolating a Planet's Spectrum

Isolating a Planet's Spectrum

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.

Infographic: Profile of planet Kepler-452b

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 Kepler-452 b, the most Earth-like exoplanet found so far. Take a look at how Kepler's cache of candidate planets has grown over time, and how we inch ever closer to finding another Earth.

Getting Closer to Another Earth: Kepler's 4500+ Planet Candidates

Getting Closer to Another Earth: Kepler's 4500+ Planet Candidates

This graphic shows Kepler-76b's orbit around a yellow-white, type F star located 2,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.

Kepler-76b's transiting orbit

Kepler-76b's transiting orbit

This disintegrating planet is an endangered species.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

This artist's conception shows a young, hypothetical planet around a cool star. A soupy mix of potentially life-forming chemicals can be seen pooling around the base of the jagged rocks.

Chemical Soups Around Cool Stars

Chemical Soups Around Cool Stars

The first planet to have its clouds mapped showed us what weather looked like on a planet outside our solar system.

Infographic: Planet Kepler-7b, cloud mapped

Infographic: Profile of planet Kepler-7b

This infographic explains how NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope can be used in tandem with a telescope on the ground to measure the distances to planets discovered using the "microlensing" technique.

Infographic: Finding Planets With Microlensing

Infographic: Finding Planets With Microlensing

This plot compares the colors of solar system planets to the color of the hot-Jupiter-class planet HD 189733b.

Visible-light Color of Planets Plot

Visible-light Color of Planets Plot

This artist's concept illustrates a young, red dwarf star surrounded by three planets.

Planets Under a Red Sun

Planets Under a Red Sun

NASA's Kepler spacecraft has spotted a planet that alternately runs late and early in its orbit because a second, "invisible" world is tugging on it. This is the first definite detection of a previously unknown planet using this method. No other technique could have found the unseen companion.

An Invisible World

An Invisible World

This sculpture by Angela Palmer is created from the data gathered to date by the Kepler telescope. It literally reproduces in three dimensions the chunk of sky the Kepler telescope has been trained on for the past three years.

GJ1214b, shown in this artist's view, is a super-Earth orbiting a red dwarf star 40 light-years from Earth.

Artist's View of Extrasolar Planet GJ1214b

Artist's View of Extrasolar Planet GJ1214b

Exoplanet atmospheres might one day reveal the presence of life.

Through the Looking Glass

Through the Looking Glass

This plot shows data obtained from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment, or OGLE, telescope located in Chile, during a "microlensing" event. Microlensing events occur when one star passes another, and the gravity of the foreground star causes the distant star's light to magnify and brighten. This magnification is evident in the plot, as both Spitzer and OGLE register an increase in the star's brightness.

Time Delay in Microlensing Event

Time Delay in Microlensing Event

The artist's concept depicts a comet-like tail of a possible disintegrating super Mercury-size planet candidate as it transits its parent star named KIC 12557548.

Disintegrating Super Mercury-size Planet

Disintegrating Super Mercury-size Planet

The diversity of exoplanets is large — more than 800 planets outside the Solar System have been found to date, with thousands more waiting to be confirmed.

An Exoplanet Seen From Its Moon

An Exoplanet Seen From Its Moon

This artist’s impression shows the formation of a gas giant planet in the ring of dust around the young star HD 100546.

Artist's impression of a gas giant planet forming in the disc around the young star HD 100546

Artist's impression of a gas giant planet forming in the disc around the young star HD 100546

NASA scientists found faint signatures of water in the atmospheres of five distant planets. All five planets appear to be hazy.

A Whiff of Water

A Whiff of Water

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.

Kepler Planet Candidates, July 2015

Kepler Planet Candidates, July 2015

This artist's illustration gives an impression of how common planets are around the stars in the Milky Way.

Planets everywhere

Planets everywhere

This plot of data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope indicates the presence of molecules in the planet WASP-12b -- a super-hot gas giant that orbits tightly around its star.

Signature of a Carbon-Rich Planet

Signature of a Carbon-Rich Planet

This artist’s impression shows how the newly discovered super-Earth surrounding the nearby star GJ1214 may look.

Using data from NASA's Kepler and Spitzer Space Telescopes, scientists have made the most precise measurement ever of the size of a world outside our solar system, as illustrated in this artist's conception.

Gauging an Alien World's Size (Artist Concept)

Gauging an Alien World's Size (Artist Concept)

This artist's conception shows the silhouette of a rocky planet, dubbed HD 219134b, as it passes in front of its star.

Little Black Spot on the Star Today (Artist's Concept)

Little Black Spot on the Star Today (Artist's Concept)

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.

Full Focal Plane Image (First Light for Kepler Photometer) with labels

Full Focal Plane Image (First Light for Kepler Photometer) with labels

This is an artist's concept of HD 189733b and its parent star.

Extrasolar Planet's Hazy Atmosphere (Artist's Concept)

Extrasolar Planet's Hazy Atmosphere (Artist's Concept)

Artist's concept of the fictional planet Vulcan, orbiting the real star 40 Eridani A.

An artist's concept of the fictional world Vulcan around the real star 40 Eridani A.

Vulcan-like planet: Fact or fiction?

More than three-quarters of the planet candidates discovered by NASA's Kepler spacecraft have sizes ranging from that of Earth to that of Neptune, which is nearly four times as big as Earth. Such planets dominate the galactic census but are not represented in our own solar system.

Kepler Planet Candidates, January 2014

Kepler Planet Candidates, January 2014

This artist's concept illustrates the idea that rocky, terrestrial worlds like the inner planets in our Solar System may be plentiful, and diverse, in the Universe.

Rocky, Terrestrial Worlds

Rocky, Terrestrial Worlds

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.

Two Zooms in the Kepler Field

Two Zooms in the Kepler Field

Planets, including those like our own Earth, form from epic collisions between asteroids and even bigger bodies, called proto-planets. Sometimes the colliding bodies are ground to dust, and sometimes they stick together to ultimately form larger, mature planets.

Building Planets Through Collisions (Artist's Concept)

Building Planets Through Collisions (Artist's Concept)

These computer-generated images chart the development of severe weather patterns on the highly eccentric exoplanet HD 80606b during the days after its closest approach to its parent star.

Severe Exoplanetary Storm

Severe Exoplanetary Storm

Astronomers have discovered one of the most distant planets known, a gas giant about 13,000 light-years from Earth, called OGLE-2014-BLG-0124L. The planet was discovered using a technique called microlensing, and the help of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment, or OGLE. In this artist's illustration, planets discovered with microlensing are shown in yellow. The farthest lies in the center of our galaxy, 25,000 light-years away.

Map of Exoplanets Found in our Galaxy (Artist's Concept)

Map of Exoplanets Found in our Galaxy (Artist's Concept)

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

A picture of future missions.

Exoplanet missions

A truly doomed planet, WASP-12b is being cannibalized by its star.

It's a Star-Eat-Planet World

It's a Star-Eat-Planet World

Astronomers have discovered two gas giant planets orbiting stars in the Beehive cluster, a collection of about 1,000 tightly packed stars.

Starry Starry Skies (Artist's Concept)

Starry Starry Skies (Artist's Concept)

This figure charts 30 hours of observations taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope of a strongly irradiated exoplanet (an planet orbiting a star beyond our own). It shows the very rapid heating the planet experienced as it swung through its closest approach to the star.

Exoplanet HD 80606b Infrared Light Curve

Exoplanet HD 80606b Infrared Light Curve

This artist's conception illustrates a storm of comets around a star near our own, called Eta Corvi. Evidence for this barrage comes from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, whose infrared detectors picked up indications that one or more comets was recently torn to shreds after colliding with a rocky body.

It's Raining Comets

It's Raining Comets

Like ancient explorers who looked to the stars to guide them to new worlds, astronomers today use stars to discover worlds many light years beyond our solar system. By studying stars and their unique influence, we can learn a great deal about their worlds – even their potential to sustain life as we know it.

Illustrations of different star types

The Lives of Stars

The tightly packed system, named Kepler-444, is home to five small planets in very compact orbits. The planets were detected from the dimming that occurs when they transit the disk of their parent star, as shown in this artist's conception.

Kepler-444 Planetary System (Artist's Concept)

Kepler-444 Planetary System (Artist's Concept)

This artist's concept shows the searing-hot gas planet WASP-12b (orange orb) and its star.

Hot, Carbon-Rich Planet

Hot, Carbon-Rich Planet

Scientists using data from NASA's Kepler mission have confirmed the first near-Earth-size planet orbiting in the habitable zone of a sun-like star.

Earth's Bigger, Older Cousin -- Artistic Concept

Earth's Bigger, Older Cousin -- Artistic Concept

This image shows an Earth-like "exomoon" orbiting a gas giant planet in a star's habitable zone.

Habitable exomoon

Habitable exomoon

The artist's concept depicts Kepler-69c, a super-Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of a star like our sun, located about 2,700 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.

Super-Venus (Artist Concept)

Super-Venus (Artist Concept)

Young stars start out with a massive disk of gas and dust that over time, astronomers think, either diffuses away or coalesces into planets and asteroids.

Grazing in the gap

Grazing in the gap

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have taken the first ever image of the snow line in an infant planetary system.

ALMA image of the carbon monoxide snow line around TW Hydrae

ALMA image of the carbon monoxide snow line around TW Hydrae

Relative sizes of Kepler habitable zone planets discovered as of 2013 April 18. Except for Earth, these are artists' renditions.

Lining Kepler Habitable Zone Planets Up

Lining Kepler Habitable Zone Planets Up

Artist's rendering of the planetary system HR 8799 at an early stage of its evolution, showing the planet HR879cc, a disk of gas and dust, and interior planets.

HR 8799: An Early Age of a Planetary System

HR 8799: An Early Age of a Planetary System

This artist's animation illustrates a massive asteroid belt in orbit around a star the same age and size as our Sun. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Band of Rubble (Artist Concept)

Band of Rubble (Artist Concept)

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 of salt from a quarter mile away.

Kepler's Precision Pointing

Kepler's Precision Pointing

ESO’s VLT identified our Sun's oldest twin and provides new clues about stars that may host terrestrial rocky planets.

The life cycle of a Sun-like star (annotated)

The life cycle of a Sun-like star (annotated)

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.

How to Measure Exoplanet Light

How to Measure Exoplanet Light

An artist’s impression showing a newly discovered Jupiter twin gas giant orbiting the solar twin star, HIP 11915. The planet is of a very similar mass to Jupiter and orbits at the same distance from its star as Jupiter does from the Sun.

Artist’s Impression of a Jupiter twin orbiting HIP 11915

Artist’s Impression of a Jupiter twin orbiting HIP 11915

Twelve Exoplanet discoveries from Kepler that are less than twice the size of Earth and reside in the habitable zone of their host star. The sizes of the exoplanets are represented by the size of each sphere. These are arranged by size from left to right, and by the type of star they orbit, from the M stars that are significantly cooler and smaller than the sun, to the K stars that are somewhat cooler and smaller than the sun, to the G stars that include the sun. The sizes of the planets are enlarged by 25X compared to the stars. The Earth is shown for reference.

Kepler's Greatest Hits

Kepler's Greatest Hits

This artist's conception illustrates a Jupiter-like planet alone in the dark of space, floating freely without a parent star.

Free-Floating Planets May be More Common Than Stars

Free-Floating Planets May be More Common Than Stars

Artist's representation of the "habitable zone," the range of orbits where liquid water is permitted on the surface of a planet.

Odds are on Oodles of Earths

Odds are on Oodles of Earths

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 NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE (red circles).

Highlighting our Tiniest Neighbors

Highlighting our Tiniest Neighbors

Keep your Valentine close with a tidally-locked planet, that always faces its star.

Illustration of a tidally-locked planet.

Tidally-locked Valentine

Hubble finds a deep-blue exoplanet that may feature pummeling showers of glass rain moving at 4,500 mph. Care to visit?

NASA's Hubble Finds a True Blue Planet

NASA's Hubble Finds a True Blue Planet

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have taken the first ever image of the snow line in an infant planetary system.

TW Hydrae snow line distance compared to the Solar System

TW Hydrae snow line distance compared to the Solar System

In this artist's impression, a disk of dusty material leftover from star formation girds two young stars like a hula hoop. As the two stars whirl around each other, they periodically peek out from the disk, making the system appear to "blink" every 93 days.

Dusty Hula Hoop Rings 'Blinking' Stellar Duo

Dusty Hula Hoop Rings 'Blinking' Stellar Duo

From the first three years of Kepler data, more than 3,500 potential worlds have emerged.

Residential Candidates

Residential Candidates

Celebrate Valetine's Day with a hot Jupiter that tightly hugs its star.

A Valentine for a Hot Jupiter

Hot Jupiter Valentine

Like Luke Skywalker's planet "Tatooine" in Star Wars, Kepler-16b orbits a pair of stars. Depicted here as a terrestrial planet, Kepler-16b might also be a gas giant like Saturn. Prospects for life on this unusual world aren't good, as it has a temperature similar to that of dry ice. But the discovery indicates that the movie's iconic double-sunset is anything but science fiction.

Where your shadow always has company

NASA's Kepler mission has discovered a new planetary system that is home to the smallest planet yet found around a star like our sun, approximately 210 light-years away in the constellation Lyra.

A Tiny Planet (Artist's Concept)

A Tiny Planet (Artist's Concept)

Tres-2 - in Kepler Photometer First Light Image

Tres-2 - in Kepler Photometer First Light Image

An artist's concept shows a gas-giant planet orbiting very close to its parent star, creating searingly hot conditions on the planet's surface.

Forecasting Weather on Distant Worlds

Forecasting Weather on Distant Worlds

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.

Full Focal Plane Image (First Light for Kepler Photometer)

Full Focal Plane Image (First Light for Kepler Photometer)

Artist's impression of the planetary system around the red dwarf Gliese 581.

The Planetary System in Gliese 581 (artist's impression)

The Planetary System in Gliese 581 (artist's impression)

Kepler-186f is the first Earth-size planet discovered in the potentially 'habitable zone' around another star, where liquid water could exist on the planet's surface. Its star is much cooler and redder than our Sun. If plant life does exist on a planet like Kepler-186f, its photosynthesis could have been influenced by the star's red-wavelength photons, making for a color palette that's very different than the greens on Earth. This discovery was made by Kepler, NASA's planet hunting telescope.

Where the Grass is Always Redder

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 star.

Exo-eclipse in x-ray vision

Exo-eclipse in x-ray vision

Over its ten years in space, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has evolved into a premier tool for studying exoplanets.

Spitzer: 10 years of surprises

Spitzer: 10 years of surprises

What does an extremely young planetary system look like? The answer depends on your point of view. This diagram shows how such a system appears when viewed from different directions.

Observing Young Stars: Hitting the 'Sweet Spot'

Observing Young Stars: Hitting the 'Sweet Spot'

This chart compares the smallest known exoplanets, or planets orbiting outside the solar system, to our own planets Mars and Earth.

Smallest exoplanets compared to Earth and Mars

Smallest exoplanets compared to Earth and Mars

An artist's concept of brilliant auroras on the brown dwarf LSR J1835+3259, a misfit failed star about 18.5 light-years from Earth.

Brown Dwarf Aurora

Brown Dwarf Aurora

A newly discovered exoplanet, Kepler-452b, comes the closest of any found so far to matching our Earth-sun system. This artist’s conception of a planetary lineup shows habitable zone planets with similarities to Earth: from left, Kepler-22b, Kepler-69c, the just announced Kepler-452b, Kepler-62f and Kepler-186f. Last in line is Earth itself.

Finding Another Earth: Candidate Lineup

Finding Another Earth: Candidate Lineup

The diagram compares the planets of the inner solar system to Kepler-69, a two-planet system about 2,700 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. The two planets of Kepler-69 orbit a star that belongs to the same class as our sun, called G-type.

Kepler-69 and the Solar System

Kepler-69 and the Solar System

The two planets of Kepler-47, the first transiting circumbinary system -- a system with more than one planet orbiting a pair of stars. Kepler-47b, on the right, has three times the radius of earth and orbits the pair of stars in less than 50 days while Kepler-47c is thought to be a gaseous giant, slightly larger than Neptune with an orbital period of 303 days.

Two Planets of Kepler-47

Two Planets of Kepler-47

This composite image shows an exoplanet (the red spot on the lower left), orbiting the brown dwarf 2M1207 (centre). 2M1207b is the first exoplanet directly imaged and the first discovered orbiting a brown dwarf.

2M1207b - First image of an exoplanet

2M1207b - First image of an exoplanet

The analysis of the first three years of Kepler data have revealed more than 3,600 candidate worlds. The diagram plots the planet candidates by oribtal period on the x-axis and size relative to Earth on the y-axis.

Kepler's Planet Candidates, November 2013

Kepler's Planet Candidates, November 2013

This artist's concept shows a Jupiter-like planet, called Upsilon Andromedae b, soaking up the scorching rays of its nearby star. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope determined that this planet is two-faced, with one side perpetually in the cold dark, and the other forever blistering under the heat of its star.

Exotic World Blisters Under the Sun

Exotic World Blisters Under the Sun

First light image from two of the CCD modules of the Kepler mission.

Kepler first light image: 2 CCD modules

Kepler first light image: 2 CCD modules

This infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope tells astronomers that a distant gas planet, a so-called "hot Jupiter" called HD 189733b, might be smothered with high clouds. It is one of the first spectra of an alien world.

Cracking the Code of Faraway Worlds: An Exoplanet Atmosphere

Cracking the Code of Faraway Worlds: An Exoplanet Atmosphere

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has found that the hottest part of a distant planet, named upsilon Andromedae b, is not under the glare of its host star as might be expected.

Planetary Hot Spot Not Under the Glare of Star

Planetary Hot Spot Not Under the Glare of Star

Artist's impression of the five-Earth mass planet, Gliese 581 c, found in the habitable zone around the red dwarf Gliese 581, with the instrument HARPS on the ESO 3.6-m telescope.

The Earth-like Planet Gliese 581c (Artist's Impression)

The Earth-like Planet Gliese 581c (Artist's Impression)

A dusty planetary system (left) is compared to another system with little dust in this artist concept. Dust can make it difficult for telescopes to image planets because light from the dust can outshine that of the planets.

Seeking Planets in the Dust (Artist's Concept)

Seeking Planets in the Dust (Artist's Concept)

Astronomers were elated to find clear skies on a Neptune-size planet called HAT-P-11b, as illustrated here. Without clouds to block their view, they were able to identify water vapor molecules in the planet's atmosphere. The blue rim of the planet in this image is due to scattered light, while the orange rim on the part of the planet in front of the star indicates the region where water vapor was detected.

Seeing Starlight Through a Planet's Rim (Artist's Concept)

Seeing Starlight Through a Planet's Rim (Artist's Concept)

Tell someone they're unique, with our Earth valentine.

Illustration of the Earth

Earth Valentine

The telescope studied comets and asteroids, counted stars, scrutinized planets and galaxies, and discovered soccer-ball-shaped carbon spheres in space called buckyballs.

Spitzer Space Telescope

Spitzer Space Telescope

This image, taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, shows the planet Fomalhaut b, orbiting its parent star, Fomalhaut.

HST ACS/HRC Wide View of Fomalhaut System

HST ACS/HRC Wide View of Fomalhaut System

This wide-field view of the sky around the bright star Alpha Centauri was created from photographic images forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2.

The bright star Alpha Centauri and its surroundings

The bright star Alpha Centauri and its surroundings

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.

VLT image of the protoplanet around the young star HD 100546

VLT image of the protoplanet around the young star HD 100546

Artist’s rendition of the relationship between the composition of the atmosphere and transmitted colors of light.

Rayleigh scattering in exoplanet atmospheres

Rayleigh scattering in exoplanet atmospheres

The Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI) instrument set its eyes on a dusty star system called Eta Corvi, depicted here in this artist's concept. Recent collisions between comets and rocky bodies within the star system are thought to have generated the surplus of dust.

LBTI hits the dusty trail of Earth-like planets

LBTI hits the dusty trail of Earth-like planets

This diagram shows how astronomers observed a distant gas giant planet around OGLE-2005-BLG-169 using microlensing.

Identification of Exoplanet Host Star OGLE-2005-BLG-169

Identification of Exoplanet Host Star OGLE-2005-BLG-169

This artists concept contrasts our familiar Earth with the exceptionally strange planet known as 55 Cancri e.

Earth and Super-Earth

Earth and Super-Earth

This image shows the HR 8799 planets with starlight optically suppressed and data processing conducted to remove residual starlight. The star is at the center of the blackened circle in the image. The four spots indicated with the letters b through e are the planets. This is a composite image using 30 wavelengths of light and was obtained over a period of 1.25 hours on June 14 and 15, 2012.

Planetary Family Portrait

Planetary Family Portrait

Hubble finds a deep-blue exoplanet that may feature pummeling showers of glass rain moving at 4,500 mph. Care to visit?

NASA's Hubble Finds a True Blue Planet - annotated

NASA's Hubble Finds a True Blue Planet - annotated

Could we find life on an exo-Jupiter's moons?

An artist's illustration of a hot Jupiter and two of its moons.

Protecting Life on an Exomoon

Researchers are getting to know some of our sun's closest and smallest neighbors.

Free-floating failed star

Free-floating failed star

NASA's Kepler mission has discovered a world where two suns set over the horizon instead of just one.

Where the Sun Sets Twice (Artist Concept)

Where the Sun Sets Twice (Artist Concept)

This artist's concept shows the Kepler spacecraft.

Kepler in Space (Artist Concept)

Kepler in Space (Artist Concept)

This image from ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) shows the newly discovered planet HD95086 b, next to its parent star.

VLT image of exoplanet HD 95086 b

VLT image of exoplanet HD 95086 b

Astronomers once thought our eight-planet solar system was pretty ho-hum; but it turns out that we could be the oddballs.

Maybe We're the Weird Ones

Maybe We're the Weird Ones

This artist's concept shows the closest known planetary system to our own-Epsilon Eridani. Observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope show that the system hosts two asteroid belts, in addition to previously identified candidate planets and an outer comet ring.

Double the Rubble

Double the Rubble

An international team of scientists discovered more than 100 planets based on images from Kepler operating in the ‘K2 Mission’.

Image montage showing the Maunakea Observatories, Kepler Space Telescope, and night sky with K2 Fields and discovered planetary systems (dots) overlaid.

NASA’s Kepler Confirms 100+ Exoplanets During Its K2 Mission

This is a temperature map of the "hot Jupiter" class exoplanet WASP 43b. The white-colored region on the daytime side is 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit. The nighttime side temperatures drop to under 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

NASA Hubble Maps the Temperature and Water Vapor on an Extreme Exoplanet

NASA Hubble Maps the Temperature and Water Vapor on an Extreme Exoplanet

If the rings of Saturn impress you, prepare to marvel at J1407 b.

If You Like It, Then You Should've Put Rings On It

If You Like It, Then You Should've Put Rings On It

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 star.

Exo-eclipse in x-ray vision

Exo-eclipse in x-ray vision

Astronomers detect lowest-mass planet around a star like the sun found using direct imaging techniques.

Image of gas giant GJ 504b (annotated)

Image of gas giant GJ 504b (annotated)

Up-close picture of Kepler CCD hardware.

A single Kepler science module

A single Kepler science module

This is an artist's concept of a hypothetical 10-million-year-old star system. The bright blur at the center is a star much like our sun. The other orb in the image is a gas-giant planet like Jupiter. Wisps of white throughout the image represent traces of gas.

Gas Giants Form Quickly

Gas Giants Form Quickly

NASA's Kepler mission confirmed the discovery of its first rocky planet, named Kepler-10b. Measuring 1.4 times the size of Earth, it is the smallest planet ever discovered outside our solar system.

Kepler Mission Discovers Its First Rocky Planet

Kepler Mission Discovers Its First Rocky Planet

Celebrate your rocking single status with a rogue planet, the world without a star.

Illustration of a rogue planet.

Rogue planet Valentine

A possible newfound planet spins through a clearing in a nearby star's dusty, planet-forming disc.

Out of the Dust, A Planet is Born

Out of the Dust, A Planet is Born

For the first time, astronomers have been able to directly follow the motion of an exoplanet as it moves to the other side of its host star. The planet has the smallest orbit so far of all directly imaged exoplanets, lying as close to its host star as Saturn is to the Sun.

Exoplanet Caught on the Move

Exoplanet Caught on the Move

The artist's concept depicts Kepler-62e, a super-Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of a star smaller and cooler than the sun, located about 1,200 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra.

Kepler-62e (Artist Concept)

Kepler-62e (Artist Concept)

This artist's conception depicts the Kepler-10 star system, located about 560 light-years away.

Kepler-10 Stellar Family Portrait

Kepler-10 Stellar Family Portrait

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.

Goldilocks Zone

Goldilocks Zone

A hypothetical planet is depicted here moving through the habitable zone and then further out into a long, cold winter.

Eccentric Habitable Zones

Eccentric Habitable Zones

The planet GJ 1214b, shown here in an artist's conception with two hypothetical moons, orbits a "red dwarf" star 40 light-years from Earth. GJ 1214b has a radius of about 2.7 times that of Earth and is about 6.5 times as massive, putting it squarely into the class of exoplanets known as super-Earths.

Super-Earth Exposed (Artist's Concept)

Super-Earth Exposed (Artist's Concept)

This artists impression shows the free-floating planet CFBDSIR J214947.2-040308.9. This is the closest such object to the Solar System.

Artists impression of the free-floating planet CFBDSIR J214947.2-040308.9

Artists impression of the free-floating planet CFBDSIR J214947.2-040308.9

The timeline series includes a compilation of artist's concepts depicting milestones from the Kepler mission-NASA's first mission capable of detecting Earth-size planets around sun-like stars.

Kepler Timeline

Kepler Timeline

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.