Beyond our solar system
Exoplanet Gallery
Thirty worlds orbiting other stars — fly through each system, see real planet sizes, orbits, and atmospheres. All data live from NASA's Exoplanet Archive.
Imagery: NASA/JPL-Caltech (TRAPPIST-1)
Most likely to host life
Habitable-zone worlds
Planets orbiting at distances where liquid water could exist on the surface — given the right atmosphere.
TRAPPIST-1
Seven Earth-sized planets around an ultracool dwarf — three in the habitable zone.
- Distance
- 40.5 ly
- Planets
- 7
- Host
- M-type
Proxima Centauri
Our nearest stellar neighbour hosts a potentially habitable terrestrial world.
- Distance
- 4.2 ly
- Planets
- 2
- Host
- M-type
Kepler-186
First Earth-sized planet found in another star's habitable zone (2014).
- Distance
- 579.2 ly
- Planets
- 5
- Host
- M-type
Kepler-442
One of the most "Earth-like" planets ever found by Kepler — 60% bigger, in HZ.
- Distance
- 1193.6 ly
- Planets
- 1
- Host
- G-type
TOI-700
TESS's first Earth-sized HZ planet — and TOI-700 e found in 2023.
- Distance
- 101.5 ly
- Planets
- 4
- Host
- M-type
James Webb is watching
JWST atmosphere targets
Worlds whose atmospheres are being probed right now by the James Webb Space Telescope.
K2-18
JWST detected possible dimethyl sulfide — a potential biosignature, still debated.
- Distance
- 124.0 ly
- Planets
- 2
- Host
- M-type
WASP-39
JWST's first CO₂ detection in an exoplanet atmosphere (2022).
- Distance
- 697.9 ly
- Planets
- 1
- Host
- G-type
GJ 1214
A "steam world" — hot, volatile-rich super-Earth with a hazy atmosphere.
- Distance
- 47.8 ly
- Planets
- 1
- Host
- M-type
55 Cancri
Hosts 55 Cancri e — a lava world JWST detected silicate atmosphere on.
- Distance
- 41.0 ly
- Planets
- 7
- Host
- G-type
LHS 1140
A super-Earth ocean world candidate — current top JWST atmosphere target.
- Distance
- 48.9 ly
- Planets
- 2
- Host
- M-type
Giants too close to their stars
Hot Jupiters & extreme worlds
Gas giants in orbits hotter than any planet in our solar system — some are being shredded.
51 Pegasi
First exoplanet ever found around a sun-like star (1995, Nobel Prize 2019).
- Distance
- 50.4 ly
- Planets
- 1
- Host
- G-type
HD 209458
First exoplanet seen transiting its star (1999) — atmospheric studies pioneer.
- Distance
- 157.5 ly
- Planets
- 1
- Host
- G-type
WASP-12
A hot Jupiter being literally devoured by its star — losing 6×10⁹ tonnes/sec.
- Distance
- 1393.5 ly
- Planets
- 1
- Host
- G-type
KELT-9
The hottest known exoplanet — daytime hotter than most stars (4,600 K).
- Distance
- 666.8 ly
- Planets
- 1
- Host
- B-type
WASP-121
Glass and iron rain in the atmosphere — extreme thermal asymmetry.
- Distance
- 880.3 ly
- Planets
- 1
- Host
- F-type
Whole solar systems
Multi-planet systems
Stars hosting four, six, even eight known planets — each its own miniature solar system.
Kepler-90
Eight known planets — first system to tie our solar system's count.
- Distance
- 2766.6 ly
- Planets
- 8
- Host
- G-type
TOI-178
Six planets in a precise resonance chain — orbital ratios like a cosmic clock.
- Distance
- 204.5 ly
- Planets
- 6
- Host
- K-type
HR 8799
Four giant planets directly imaged at infrared — orbiting a young A-type star.
- Distance
- 134.5 ly
- Planets
- 4
- Host
- A-type
Kepler-11
Six tightly packed planets — all closer to their star than Mercury is to ours.
- Distance
- 2108.1 ly
- Planets
- 6
- Host
- G-type
Kepler-62
Five planets with two in the habitable zone — Kepler-62 e and f.
- Distance
- 981.3 ly
- Planets
- 5
- Host
- K-type
Closest to home
Nearest neighbours
Exoplanets within 25 light-years — the closest worlds we know exist beyond our solar system.
Barnard's Star
Second-closest star system; planet candidates announced 2024 after decades of false starts.
- Distance
- 6.0 ly
- Planets
- 4
- Host
- M-type
Ross 128
A quiet red dwarf 11 ly away with a temperate Earth-mass planet.
- Distance
- 11.0 ly
- Planets
- 1
- Host
- M-type
Tau Ceti
Sun-like star 12 ly away — three confirmed planets, with the outermost (h) in the habitable zone.
- Distance
- 11.8 ly
- Planets
- 3
- Host
- G-type
Wolf 1061
14 ly away — three planets, the middle one in the habitable zone.
- Distance
- 14.0 ly
- Planets
- 3
- Host
- M-type
GJ 667 C
23 ly away — three to seven candidate planets in a triple-star system.
- Distance
- 23.6 ly
- Planets
- 5
- Host
- M-type
The strange and the firsts
Record-holders & oddities
Pulsar planets, Tatooines, Venus analogs, and worlds with comet-like atmospheric tails.
PSR B1257+12
First exoplanets ever confirmed (1992) — orbiting a pulsar, not a normal star.
- Distance
- 1956.9 ly
- Planets
- 3
- Host
- G-type
Kepler-16
A real-world Tatooine — a planet orbiting two stars at once.
- Distance
- 244.9 ly
- Planets
- 1
- Host
- G-type
GJ 1132
A Venus analog 41 ly away — terrestrial world losing its atmosphere.
- Distance
- 41.1 ly
- Planets
- 2
- Host
- M-type
HD 189733
A blue planet — but the colour comes from glass rain in the upper atmosphere.
- Distance
- 64.5 ly
- Planets
- 1
- Host
- K-type
GJ 436
A Neptune-sized planet leaving a 1-million-km hydrogen tail behind it.
- Distance
- 31.8 ly
- Planets
- 1
- Host
- M-type