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Infographic: Profile of planet 51 Pegasi b

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.

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NASA/JPL-Caltech

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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.
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Light Curve of a Planet Transiting Its Star
Light Curve of a Planet Transiting Its Star
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
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.
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Kepler's Mini Planetary System
Kepler's Mini Planetary System
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.
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Gauging an Alien World's Size (Artist Concept)
Gauging an Alien World's Size (Artist Concept)
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.
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Kepler Planet Candidates, January 2014
Kepler Planet Candidates, January 2014
This size and scale of the Kepler-452 system compared alongside the Kepler-186 system and the solar system.
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Kepler-452 and the Solar System
Kepler-452 and the Solar System
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.
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Blinded by the Light
Blinded by the Light
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
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.
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Comparison between Earth and Kepler-452b and their host stars
Comparison between Earth and Kepler-452b and their host stars
This artist's concept shows a brown dwarf surrounded by a swirling disk of planet-building dust.
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Solar System in the Making
Solar System in the Making
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.
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Alpha Centauri in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur)
Alpha Centauri in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur)
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
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.
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On the Road Toward a Star, Planets Halt Their Migration (Artist Concept)
On the Road Toward a Star, Planets Halt Their Migration (Artist Concept)
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.
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NASA Hubble Maps the Temperature and Water Vapor on an Extreme Exoplanet
NASA Hubble Maps the Temperature and Water Vapor on an Extreme Exoplanet
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.
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Forecasting Weather on Distant Worlds
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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.
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HD 40307 g
Experience the Gravity of a Super Earth
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.
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Kepler-186 and the Solar System
Kepler-186 and the Solar System
This disintegrating planet is an endangered species.
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Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
This artist's conception shows the 30 Ari system, which includes four stars and a planet.
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Planet With Four Stars (Artist's Concept)
Planet With Four Stars (Artist's Concept)
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.
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Kepler-76b's transiting orbit
Kepler-76b's transiting orbit
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.
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Disintegrating Super Mercury-size Planet
Disintegrating Super Mercury-size Planet
This image from ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) shows the newly discovered planet HD95086 b, next to its parent star.
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VLT image of exoplanet HD 95086 b
VLT image of exoplanet HD 95086 b
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.
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Misty Star in the Sea Serpent
Misty Star in the Sea Serpent
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.
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Orbiting in the Habitable Zone of Two Suns
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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

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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