Skip Navigation
menu close modal

Multimedia

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.

Credit

NASA/JPL-Caltech

ENLARGE

Related

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.
More
Kepler-76b's transiting orbit
Kepler-76b's transiting orbit
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.
More
Exoplanet is Extremely Hot and Incredibly Close (Artist's Concept)
Exoplanet is Extremely Hot and Incredibly Close (Artist's Concept)
Artist's representation of the "habitable zone," the range of orbits where liquid water is permitted on the surface of a planet.
More
Odds are on Oodles of Earths
Odds are on Oodles of Earths
For a planet, the habitable zone is the distance from a star that allows liquid water to persist on its surface – as long as that planet has a suitable atmosphere.
More
In our solar system, Earth sits comfortably inside the Sun’s habitable zone. Broiling planet Venus is within the inner edge, while refrigerated Mars is near the outer boundary.
What Is the Habitable Zone?
A detailed explanation into the workings of the coronagraph and how it can help directly image exoplanets.
More
How will coronagraphs be used to directly image exoplanets and search for life.
The Search for Alien Earths - How Coronagraphs Find Hidden Planets
If the rings of Saturn impress you, prepare to marvel at J1407 b.
More
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 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 lik...
More
Earth at Twilight
Tidally locked planets (Earth at Twilight)
At only four light-years away, Proxima b is our closest known exoplanet neighbor.
More
An interactive 3D planet model of Proxima b.
Proxima b 3D Model
For students in Grade: 3rd to 12th A set of slides designed to help teachers and Subject Matter Experts explain complex topics in a fun way.
More
Collection of Interactive PowerPoint Slides on astronomical objects, black holes, exoplanet detection, and space telescopes to be Used in Public Engagement.
Collection of Interactive PowerPoint Slides to be Used in Public Engagement
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 1,00...
More
NASA Hubble Maps the Temperature and Water Vapor on an Extreme Exoplanet
NASA Hubble Maps the Temperature and Water Vapor on an Extreme Exoplanet
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 p...
More
Kepler Planet Candidates, January 2014
Kepler Planet Candidates, January 2014
Do other planets beyond our solar system, called exoplanets, also host life forms?
More
In the Zone: How Scientists Search for Habitable Planets
In the Zone: How Scientists Search for Habitable Planets
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 ...
More
Beta Pictoris as Seen in Infrared Light
Beta Pictoris as Seen in Infrared Light
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 ...
More
Kepler's Precision Pointing
Kepler's Precision Pointing
Celebrate Valetine's Day with a hot Jupiter that tightly hugs its star.
More
A Valentine for a Hot Jupiter
Hot Jupiter Valentine
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...
More
An interactive 3D planet model of the exoplanet 55 Cancri e.
55 Cancri e 3D Model
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.
More
Infographic of exoplanet types
5000 Exoplanets Infographic
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, launched in 2003, assisted in the discovery of planets beyond our solar system, including the detection of seven Earth-size planets orbiting the star TRAPPIST-1.
More
An interactive 3D model of NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.
Spitzer Space Telescope 3D Model
An artist's impression of a red supergiant engulfing a Jupiter-like planet as it expands.
More
Hungry Red Giant
Hungry Red Giant
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.
More
Kepler-62 and the Solar System
Kepler-62 and the Solar System
Scientists using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have found evidence that a planet orbiting a distant star that may have lost its atmosphere but gained a second one through volcanic activity.
More
GJ 1132 b’s hot interior, the team believes means the planet’s cooler, overlying crust is extremely thin, perhaps only hundreds of feet thick. That’s much too feeble to support anything resembling volcanic mountains. Its flat terrain may also be cracked like an eggshell due to tidal flexing. Hydrogen and other gases could be released through such cracks.
Hubble Finds Evidence that a New Atmosphere May Have Formed on a Rocky Exoplanet (no text)
Audience: 3rd grade and older  This slide shows how dramatically different the planets in our solar system are in size.
More
This slide shows how dramatically different the planets in our solar system are in size
Comparison of Planet Sizes: Solar Systems
Like Luke Skywalker's planet "Tatooine" in Star Wars, Kepler-16b orbits a pair of stars. Kepler-16b is a gas giant like Saturn, so it has no solid surface to stand on. The view here is depicted on ...
More
Kepler-16b
Where your shadow always has company
Audience: 3rd grade and older This slide compares the difference in size between planets in our solar system and with three kinds of exoplanets: Super Earth,  Neptunian and Gas Giants.
More
This slide compares the difference in size between planets in our solar system and with three kinds of exoplanets: Super Earth, Neptunian and Gas Giants.
Comparison of Planet Sizes: Exoplanets
This slide breaks down and explains what black holes are.
More
A slide explaining what a black hole is.
Black Holes: What Are Black Holes?

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.
More

Strange New Worlds

Explore an interactive gallery of some of the most intriguing and exotic planets discovered so far.
More
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.
More