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Exoplanet

A planet that orbits around a star other than the Sun.

Resources

Aquarius

Aquarius October 4, 2011
Cancer, the Crab

Cancer, the Crab October 4, 2011
Libra, the Scales

Libra, the Scales October 4, 2011

Facts and Figures June 10, 2010
Artist's concept of a possible Neptune-mass planet orbiting Rho 1 Cancri.

Finding Earth-Like Planets May 21, 2010
Rings encircle a young planet in this artist's concept.

Exoplanets May 21, 2010

Radio Programs

Puffiest Planet The “puffiest” planet of all September 24, 2023

On the Border A planet that’s on the border September 15, 2023

5,000 Planets The music of the spheres — exoplanet style August 28, 2023

Death Zone A planet-eating star in the eagle August 23, 2023

Valuable Real Estate Assessing the exoplanet real estate market July 31, 2023

Double Parents A planet that’s been through a lot July 14, 2023

Super Heated Putting some exoplanets in the oven June 7, 2023

Vega A possible planet for a summer star June 6, 2023

Dark Passage A big planet around a small star May 4, 2023

Water Worlds “Steamy” planets orbiting a faint star February 27, 2023

Trappist-1 Update Prospects for life in a busy star system December 29, 2022

Moon and Spica Virgo’s planetary bounty December 17, 2022

Fomalhaut A star’s disappearing planet October 27, 2022

Falling into Place Making a planet a good home for life September 2, 2022

Radio Planet A new way to catch exoplanets September 1, 2022

Cooperative Planets Tracking down the details August 31, 2022

Hycean Planets A new class of habitable planets August 30, 2022

Friendly Rogues Friendly “rogues” roaming the galaxy August 29, 2022

Chasing Colors The colors of life on other planets July 16, 2022

Taking Time Getting to know a nearby planet June 14, 2022

Moon and Antares Lonely planets in the scorpion June 12, 2022

Moon and Spica Living under two brilliant suns June 9, 2022

Growing Planet Watching a young planet grow June 4, 2022

Close Neighbors Goldilocks and the three exoplanets June 2, 2022

Hot Rocks Three birthdays in a single day February 20, 2022

‘Nu’ Stars “New” stars for the big dog February 5, 2022

Icy Visitor A chip off the old ice block January 21, 2022

Moon and the Twins A companion for a “twin” star January 17, 2022

Kepler 90 A smashed-together solar system January 15, 2022

Double Earths? Two “Earths” orbiting one star January 11, 2022

Moon and Aldebaran Informative ripples on a giant star November 19, 2021

Snarling Wolf A small star with a big attitude October 27, 2021

Nightlights Looking for the glow of alien cities October 22, 2021

Moon and Jupiter Giant planets change partners June 28, 2021

Making Super-Earths Sculpting some rocky planets May 8, 2021

Tatooine-Plus Stars galore for a unique planet May 7, 2021

Lava Planet A planet covered in molten rock May 6, 2021

Black-Hole Planets Making planets around giant black holes May 5, 2021

Moon and Planets Moving around some giant planets May 3, 2021

Moon and Saturn Making exoplanets look “puffy” April 5, 2021

HD 69830 An old star with close planets April 1, 2021

Big Detectors A search for tiny particles in big planets February 26, 2021

Metallic Skies Rare metals in distant skies January 21, 2021

Kepler-444 A tight family of ancient planets December 18, 2020

The Great Silence The silence of the galaxy November 24, 2020

Steamy Planets Planets hidden by steamy atmospheres November 23, 2020

Ancient Planet The life of an ancient planet November 22, 2020

Youngest Planet A young planet’s uncertain future November 21, 2020

Disappearing Planet A bright star loses a planet November 20, 2020

Breakthrough Starshot Paying a call on the neighbors September 30, 2020

Solar Lens A giant “lens” for imaging planets September 28, 2020

Dark Planet A hot but dark planet September 18, 2020

Rapid Birth Making planets in a hurry September 17, 2020

More Trappist-1 A planet with a busy sky September 15, 2020

Trappist-1 A puny star with a big family September 14, 2020

Proxima Centauri C Digging up a new planet August 24, 2020

Moon and the Beehive Planets in a busy star cluster June 23, 2020

Alpha Centauri Planets Looking for close neighbors June 10, 2020

Volcanic Exomoon Looking for a “hellish” moon April 1, 2020

Hardy Planet Surviving the death of a star March 31, 2020

Moon and Spica An unlikely place for planets January 17, 2020

51 Pegasi Setting off a Gold Rush December 6, 2019

Pulsar Planets Planets in the strangest places December 5, 2019

First Planet Future Leader December 4, 2019

Transits Peeking in on other planets November 11, 2019

Ploonets A new term for the astronomy dictionary October 14, 2019

CHEOPS Going for the details October 11, 2019

Fomalhaut Taking the picture of a distant world October 7, 2019

Distant Planet Planet-hunting patience pays off July 25, 2019

Hot Jupiters Growing hot, giant planets June 28, 2019

Super-Earths Look! Up in the sky! It’s a Super-Earth! June 27, 2019

Looking for Earths Looking for Earth-sized planets June 26, 2019

More Kepler New discoveries from a dead mission March 8, 2019

Kepler A prolific planet hunter March 7, 2019

Habitable Planets Counting planets in the habitable zone February 5, 2019

Close Planets Planets without neighbors February 4, 2019

Moon and Aldebaran Bullish outlook on planets December 20, 2018

Planet Hunters Photographing hundreds of planets December 18, 2018

Biosignatures Signs of life among the stars December 17, 2018

Moon and Aldebaran Chilling a distant planet November 22, 2018

Collision Zones A big impact around a young star October 15, 2018

PANOPTES A grassroots hunt for exoplanets October 2, 2018

Evryscope Many eyes on the southern sky October 1, 2018

Distant Planets Planets at the spout of the teapot August 29, 2018

Spitzer Space Telescope New targets for a space telescope August 25, 2018

Selective Viewing Selecting the right targets July 12, 2018

Moon, Jupiter, Spica Restructuring planetary systems May 26, 2018

Hyades Planets Looking into a stellar laboratory April 5, 2018

Second-Chance Planets New planets after a stellar explosion January 25, 2018

More Aries A hot future for a distant planet December 27, 2017

Doomed Giant The final days of a giant planet December 8, 2017

Evidence of a Planet Early evidence of a planet? October 24, 2017

Fomalhaut The busy environs of a bright star October 7, 2017

Planetary Nomads Nomadic planets wander through the galaxy October 6, 2017

Long Eclipse? Looking for a distant eclipse September 6, 2017

Giant Magellan Telescope II Getting to know distant planets August 10, 2017

Vanishing Planets Doomed planets around a dying star July 27, 2017

Rio Scale Rating the odds of finding ET April 14, 2017

Three Venuses One Venus here, two more elsewhere April 13, 2017

Planetary Gems Garnets and rubies and sapphires, Oh, my! April 12, 2017

Counting Starspots Counting spots on a small star March 3, 2017

Misaligned Disks Looking into the future of young stars February 3, 2017

Lepus Chasing down a celestial rabbit January 28, 2017

Featured Images

graphic showing statistics on the first 5,000-plus known exoplanets

Exoplanet Totebar August 28, 2023
pds 70 system

'Sharing' Planets July 21, 2023

One-Size-Fits-Many July 10, 2023
the super-heated planet KELT 9b orbits its star

Hot World June 7, 2023
Artist's concept of dwarf planet Quaoar (center) and its ring, with a small moon at left and the sun at the right

Distant Ring February 10, 2023
Trappist-1 and its seven known planets

Gobs of Planets December 29, 2022
artist's concept of a red-dwarf star and its possible planet

Listening for a Planet September 1, 2022
hot gas spirals onto pds 70b, a planet orbiting a star in centaurus

Growing Planet June 4, 2022
Artist's impression of the planet Proxima Centauri d

A Close Neighbor June 2, 2022
Illustration of a star and its nearby planet, which is distorted into a rugby-ball shape

Distorted Planet January 17, 2022
Chart showing all star systems within 15 light-years of Earth

The Neighborhood January 11, 2022
direct images of two new planets

New Planets December 15, 2021
white dwarf destroys and orbiting companion

Ghoulish Star October 31, 2021
bright orange ring around the star fomalhaut

Dusty Star October 8, 2021
future exomoon around a planet in pds 70

Future Moon? July 25, 2021

Big Planet, Little Star June 28, 2021
A hot super-Earth

Super Planets May 8, 2021
Exoplanet WASP-121b

Metallic Skies January 21, 2021
Artistic idea of a planet imaged through a solar gravitational lens

Long-Range Scanner September 28, 2020
artist's concept of TrES-2b

Dark World September 18, 2020

Busy View September 14, 2020
Two giant planets are visible in this view of TYC 8998-760-1

One System, Two Planets July 22, 2020
Artist's concept of a planet orbiting the star Tau Ceti

Inhospitable Planet April 8, 2020
Wasp-49b system

Hot Moon April 1, 2020
The CHEOPS space telescope heads for space

On Its Way December 19, 2019
51 Pegasi b

Starting a Gold Rush December 6, 2019
Exoplanets galore

Who's First? December 4, 2019
artist's concept of aftermath of a collision around NGC 2547-ID8

Messy Star System October 25, 2019
CHEOPS in orbit

Following Up October 11, 2019
Artist's concept of a super-heated planet

Scalding Planet August 2, 2019
Exoplanet Barnard's Star b

Super Planet June 27, 2019
Artist's concept of possible Earth-like worlds in other star systems

Planet Parade April 15, 2019
Artist's concept of K2-138 planetary system

Planets by the Half-Dozen March 8, 2019
Artist's concept of Epsilon Eridani b, one of the closest exoplanets to Earth

Close Neighbors January 31, 2019

Looking for Life December 17, 2018

Farewell to a Planet Hunter October 31, 2018

Glowing Planets August 25, 2018
VLT view of young planet orbiting the star PDS 70

Taking Shape July 2, 2018

Dusty Star April 14, 2018
Artist's concept of TESS in front of a star with several transiting planets

New Hunter March 20, 2018
Planets orbiting the pulsar PSR B1257+12

Second-Chance Planets January 25, 2018
Artist's concept of HAT-P-7b

Planetary Jewel April 12, 2017
Protoplanetary disks around three young stars

Swirling Planets November 9, 2016

Backlit Planet September 16, 2016
The faint star Trappist-1 and three of its planets

Cool Star, Warm Planets? September 14, 2016
Artist's concept of Kepler Space Telescope

Little Telescope, Big Discoveries September 12, 2016
Artist's concept of the star system 51 Pegasi, featuring a giant planet

The First October 12, 2015
Artist's concept of a young Jupiter-like planet

Young Giant August 27, 2015
Artist's concept of a moons orbiting a Jupiter-like exoplanet

Worlds of Worlds June 9, 2015

Ringfest May 20, 2015