Exoplanets
An exoplanet is any planet beyond our solar system. Most of them orbit other stars, but some free-floating exoplanets, called rogue planets, are untethered to any star. We’ve confirmed more than 6,000 exoplanets, out of the billions that we believe exist.
Congratulations, TESS!
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Exoplanet hunter surpasses 1,000 new worlds confirmed
NASA's TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) mission has reached a significant milestone: since it launched in 2018, more than 1,000 of the exoplanet candidates it discovered have been confirmed.
TESS stares at patches of the sky, watching for dips in starlight caused by orbiting planets, an event called a transit — the detection method that gave TESS its name. Recently, TESS learned a new trick — it identified a planet through another method called microlensing, where light from a distant star is magnified by a nearer one passing in front of it. Many of these newly confirmed planets are exciting targets for additional scrutiny by other missions, including the Webb and Roman space telescopes, and TESS has observed thousands more exoplanet candidates still awaiting confirmation.
6K, and counting...
6,000 Exoplanets!
The milestone of extra-solar planets confirmed by NASA highlights the accelerating rate of discoveries, just over three decades since the first exoplanets were found.
The Habitable Zone
The area around a star where its planets could have liquid water on the surface. Also called “Goldilocks zones,” where conditions might be just right — not too hot, not too cold — for life.
Why We Search
Whether life exists beyond Earth is one of the most profound questions of all time. The answer — whatever it is — will change us forever.
Exoplanet Travel Bureau
Even the closest exoplanets are too far away to visit. But… what if they weren't? Scientists, futurists, and artists have helped us select several destinations. Suit up and join a tour!
Exoplanet Catalog
Learn more about every confirmed exoplanet — more than 6,000 and counting — in this continuously updated resource. View interactive 3D models, and read descriptions and vital statistics.
Overview
Most of the exoplanets discovered so far are in a relatively small region of our galaxy, the Milky Way. (“Small” meaning within thousands of light-years of our solar system; one light-year equals 5.88 trillion miles, or 9.46 trillion kilometers.) Even the closest known exoplanet to Earth, Proxima Centauri b, is still about 4 light-years away. We know there are more planets than stars in the galaxy.
By measuring exoplanets’ sizes (diameters) and masses (weights), we can see compositions ranging from rocky (like Earth and Venus) to gas-rich (like Jupiter and Saturn). Some planets may be dominated by water or ice, while others are dominated by iron or carbon. We’ve identified lava worlds covered in molten seas, puffy planets the density of Styrofoam and dense cores of planets still orbiting their stars.
Roman Coronagraph Instrument Glimpses Its First Cosmic Light
The fine-guidance system on NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which allows the observatory to lock very steadily onto its targets during observations, passed a spate of tests from Sept. 15 to 21. Then on Sept. 22, the mission’s Coronagraph Instrument opened its eyes to cosmic light for the very first time. The coronagraph woke up on Sept. 1 and stretched its digital, electronic, and mechanical “limbs” mid-month. After confirming the guidance system was holding the Coronagraph Instrument steady, scientists adjusted the focus so it could take its first bleary-eyed look at space, a glimpse to help scientists fine-tune the instrument’s view.
Read ‘NASA Checks Roman Guidance System, Takes First Coronagraph Observation’ about Roman Coronagraph Instrument Glimpses Its First Cosmic Light
NASA Launches ‘Discovery Machine,’ the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
This flagship mission set sail Sunday, Aug. 30, to open a new era of unprecedented cosmic surveys. Its crisp, panoramic view of space combined with fast survey speeds will give astronomers a chance to study the universe as never before. Its launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida began a three-month, million-mile journey to its final orbit; once there, “Roman will be a discovery machine,” said NASA Science head Nicky Fox, bringing us “closer than ever before to answering humanity’s most profound questions about our cosmic history.”
When it begins its work in early 2027, Roman will help astronomers explore dark matter, dark energy, and worlds outside of our solar system, known as exoplanets.
In three decades of discovery, scientists have so far confirmed 6,300+ exoplanets in our galaxy; Roman is expected to discover 100,000 more.
Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Launch
NASA’s next great spaceborne observatory rocketed into the sky above Florida at 7:26 a.m. EDT Sunday, Aug. 30, beginning a three-month, million-mile journey to its final orbit. There the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, named for NASA’s first chief astronomer, will open a deep, panoramic view of the cosmos, generating unprecedented images that will revolutionize our understanding of the universe.
Learn More: Visit the Roman Telescope Blog‘Other Stars, Other Worlds’
Is our home — our solar system — unique among all the systems of stars and their companion planets in the Milky Way galaxy? When compared to other planetary systems, are we that different? How much are we alike? This five-part series of animations and stories looks at some of our intriguing galactic neighbors.
Watch and Read ‘Other Stars, Other Worlds’
NASA’s Tally of Planets Outside Our Solar System Reaches 6,000
The milestone highlights the accelerating rate of discoveries, just over three decades since the first exoplanets were found. The official…
Read the Story
‘We Are Seekers’ — And We Have Confirmed More Than 6,000 Worlds Beyond Our Own
The official number of exoplanets — planets outside our solar system — confirmed by NASA has reached (and then quickly exceeded) 6,000. The first exoplanet around a Sun-like star was discovered 30 years ago. Since then, the number has rapidly increased as technologies improve.
Thousands more candidate planets await confirmation, and each confirmed planet enables scientists to learn more about the conditions under which planets can form, how common planets like Earth might be, and where to look for them.
Exoplanet Types
So far scientists have categorized exoplanets into the following types: Gas giant, Neptunian, super-Earth, and terrestrial, with subcategories — such as mini-Neptunes — within those groups. How are they alike or different? What makes them special?
Learn More about Exoplanet Types
The Hunt for Habitable Worlds
The Target Star Catalog is a guide to intriguing nearby stars that astronomers want to study with future missions, such as the Habitable Worlds Observatory, which will be built specifically to find and observe Earth-like exoplanets, to search for signs of life.
Browse the Target Star Catalog
30 Years of Exoplanets
2025 marked 30 years of exoplanet discoveries. The first planet discovered orbiting a Sun-like star, 51 Pegasi b, was identified in October 1995; in the three decades since then, we’ve confirmed 6,000 more, out of billions that we believe exist. The search for and study of exoplanets (extra-solar planets, those found outside our solar system) has grown rapidly in a short time thanks to new detection methods and increased scrutiny from tools ranging from the most advanced spacecraft, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, to ground-based observatories worldwide, and even citizen scientists using backyard telescopes.
Learn more about that initial discovery 30 years ago, about the accelerating advances in exoplanet science since then, and about the bold plans for the future of the field, with instruments and observatories to expand and refine the search for other worlds – perhaps even habitable ones like our own.
Exoplanet Catalog
Learn more about every confirmed exoplanet — more than 6,000 and counting — in this continuously updated resource. View interactive 3D models, read descriptions and vital statistics, and filter by exoplanet type, or by the method used to discover it, or by the spacecraft, observatory, or other facility that found it.
Browse the Exoplanet Catalog
Exoplanets
Do NASA Science and Explore Key Questions about the Universe
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Exoplanet Watch
NASA invites people of all ages and backgrounds to participate in authentic NASA research via "citizen science" or "participatory science" projects, where volunteers and amateurs have helped make thousands of important scientific discoveries. As a part of the Exoplanet Watch project, you'll help scientists track and study exoplanets as they transit in front of stars.
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UNITE
Do you have your own telescope? You can help observe newly discovered exoplanets and collect information about their transits to help characterize their orbits. UNITE participants coordinate with other citizen scientists and researchers around the globe to track and learn about these new worlds.
