Artist’s Concept of Extrasolar Planet

Artist's Concept – "Hot Jupiter" Around the Star HD 209458

This is an artist's impression of the gas-giant planet orbiting the yellow, Sun-like star HD 209458, 150 light-years from Earth. Astronomers used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to look at this world and make the first direct detection of an atmosphere around an extrasolar planet....

1882 Transit of Venus

The infrequent passage of Venus across the disk of the Sun, called a transit, was recorded in 1882.

Drawing of 1769 Transit of Venus by Captain James Cook and Charles Green

Artist's Concept of a Transit

A planet passes in front of its host star - a celestial event called a transit. Astronomers used such a transit to examine the gas giant orbiting HD 209458 by probing the star's light passing through the planet's atmosphere.

Artist's Concept of a Transit with a Graphic Light Curve

One way that astronomers look for and study extrasolar planets is by watching stars and noting periodic changes in their brightness. Those changes are caused by the slight dimming of the star as a planet passes between it and the Earth. This animation illustrates the dimming...

Interview: Dr. Ronald Gilliland, Space Telescope Science Institute: Part 1

Dr. Gilliland describes the ground-breaking achievement he and his colleagues have made by using the Hubble Space Telescope to examine an extra-solar planet.

Interview: Dr. Ronald Gilliland, Space Telescope Science Institute: Part 2

Dr. Gilliland offers details of Hubble's observation of the planet's atmosphere.

Interview: Dr. Ronald Gilliland, Space Telescope Science Institute: Part 3

Dr. Gilliland comments on the future of observing this planet with HST.