Facts about Exoplanets
- 10
HD 209458b, discovered in 1996, was the first exoplanet whose atmosphere scientists detected through spectroscopy, revealing the presence of sodium and hydrogen gases.
- 09
Some exoplanets experience retrograde orbits, moving backward around their stars, suggesting violent planetary migration occurred during their solar systems' formation.
- 08
WASP-12b, an exoplanet discovered in 2008, orbits so close to its star that tidal forces are stretching it into an egg shape and gradually destroying it.
- 07
Proxima Centauri b, orbiting our nearest stellar neighbor just 4.24 light-years away, may harbor liquid water on its surface despite receiving minimal stellar radiation.
- 06
TOI-1695 b, a Neptune-sized exoplanet discovered in 2023, completes one orbit around its star in just 1.2 days, making it one of the fastest-orbiting known worlds.
- 05
K2-18b, a super-Earth discovered in 2015, became the first exoplanet confirmed to have water vapor in its atmosphere in 2019.
- 04
TRAPPIST-1e, discovered in 2017, orbits within the habitable zone of its star just 11 light-years from Earth and receives similar stellar energy as our planet.
- 03
In 2019, astronomers photographed the first direct image of an exoplanet system around star HR 8799, revealing four giant planets orbiting together.
- 02
Over 5,700 exoplanets have been confirmed as of 2024, with most discoveries made by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope between 2009 and 2018.
- 01
The first exoplanet orbiting a sun-like star, 51 Pegasi b, was discovered in 1995 and weighs half of Jupiter's mass.