• Key Information

  • Finding Exoplanets

  • Type
    Planet Detection around other Stars
  • Earliest Detection
    1917 (not noticed at the time)
  • Earliest Confirmed
    1992
  • Confirmed Exoplanets
    5,297 (January 2023)
  • Systems with Confirmed
    3,904 (January 2023)
  • Learning Point
  • Since the earliest days of modern astronomy, and especially since stars were confirmed as "suns", astronomers have speculated that planets could exist around them.
  • In the last 30 years or so, thousands of exoplanets have been discovered, with many more likely to be detected in the coming years.
  • Project
  • Find out some ways we can find exoplanets.
  • Location
  • Located in
    Our Universe
  • Fun Facts
  • The direct imaging of a planet is able to identify the largest of exoplanets that are a distance from their host star.
  • The transit method is when a planet (or planets) pass in front of the star and dim its light, which we can detect periodically.
  • Another method, radial velocity (also called the Doppler method) looks for the wobble of a star caused by planets moving around it.
  • Other forms are less able to pick up planets, but might be used to help confirm other observations and detections.