exo
vista
Explore every known exoplanet — 6,000+ real worlds from NASA's archive, explained for anyone.
A world orbiting
another star.
Exoplanets — or extrasolar planets — are planets that exist outside our solar system. They orbit stars other than our Sun, sometimes in the habitable zone where liquid water could theoretically persist on a rocky surface.
We cannot see most of them directly. A star is typically 10 billion times brighter than an orbiting planet in visible light. Instead, astronomers detect the faint shadow a planet casts during transit, or the subtle gravitational tug it exerts on its host — a rhythmic wobble that shifts the star's light by a fraction of a wavelength.
The first confirmed detection around a Sun-like star came in 1995: 51 Pegasi b, a gas giant completing an orbit every 4.23 days. Today the catalog holds over 6,000 confirmed worlds — from lava-scorched ultra-hot Jupiters to cold, rocky super-Earths on the edge of their star's habitable zone.
Discovery timeline — key milestones
We cannot see them.
We infer them.
found
Transit Photometry
A shadow across the light
When a planet crosses in front of its host star, it blocks a tiny fraction of the starlight reaching us — as little as 0.01%. Kepler and TESS stare at hundreds of thousands of stars simultaneously, hunting for this repeating dip. The depth tells you the planet's size. The period tells you its orbit. The shape tells you the inclination.
found
Radial Velocity
The star's gravitational confession
A planet doesn't orbit a stationary star — both objects orbit their common center of mass. As the star moves toward and away from Earth, its light Doppler-shifts: bluer when approaching, redder when receding. Spectrographs like HARPS can detect velocity wobbles as small as 30 cm/s — slower than a walking pace.
found
Gravitational Microlensing
Light bent by invisible mass
Einstein's general relativity predicts that massive objects bend the path of light. When a foreground star (with a planet) drifts in front of a background star, the lens amplifies the background light. A planet around the lens star adds a secondary brightening spike — brief, unrepeatable, and often revealing worlds too cold and distant for any other method.
found
Direct Imaging
Seeing the planet itself
The hardest method: directly resolving the planet's own light or reflected starlight next to a star a billion times brighter. Coronagraphs and adaptive optics block the central glare. It works best for young, massive planets far from their stars — where the planet is still warm from formation and the angular separation is wide enough to resolve.
A planet's chemistry
written in light.
During transit, starlight filters through the planet's atmospheric limb. Different molecules absorb specific wavelengths — each one a spectral fingerprint. JWST reads these fingerprints at , detecting water, carbon dioxide, methane, and potentially even biosignatures on worlds dozens of light-years away.
— simulated atmospheric absorption spectrum · wavelength increases →
Planets come in
extraordinary
variety.
From scorching lava worlds barely larger than Earth, to gas giants swollen to 2× Jupiter's diameter by extreme proximity to their stars. The NASA catalog reveals a continuum of planetary types unknown in our own solar system.
The radius gap — a deficit of planets between and — appears to be real. Photoevaporation from the host star strips away hydrogen envelopes, bifurcating the population into rocky super-Earths and volatile-rich sub-Neptunes.
Six worlds worth knowing.
TRAPPIST-1e
TRAPPIST-1 ·
Best Earth-twin candidate. Rocky, temperate, in the HZ of an M-dwarf.
Kepler-442b
Kepler-442 ·
K-type star habitable zone. ESI among the highest of any confirmed world.
K2-18b
K2-18 ·
Hycean world candidate. JWST detected carbon-bearing molecules in its atmosphere.
51 Pegasi b
51 Peg ·
The first exoplanet around a Sun-like star. A hot Jupiter orbiting in just 4.2 days.
HD 189733 b
HD 189733 ·
Glass-rain winds at 8,700 km/h. The most studied hot Jupiter atmosphere.
Proxima Cen b
Proxima Centauri ·
Our nearest known exoplanet neighbor — a rocky world in the HZ of a red dwarf.
6,291 confirmed
worlds. Searchable.
The complete NASA Exoplanet Archive, live-queried on demand via the TAP service. Filter by star type, radius class, discovery method, orbital period, distance, or any combination. Updated as NASA ingests new confirmations.
browse archive — no login requiredHow they were found
NASA Exoplanet Archive
Browse all 6,000+ confirmed worlds — no account required
The science, long-form.
Written for curious minds, not simplified for casual readers. No popscience shortcuts.
The equations
made explorable.
Five calculators and simulators built on published astrophysics. Not demos — actual mathematics. Orbital mechanics, atmospheric retention, photometric depth, Doppler wobble. Unlock all tools with a free account.
Habitable Zone Calculator
Kopparapu et al. flux limits — visualize inner and outer HZ for any star temperature and luminosity.
Orbital Period Estimator
Kepler's third law applied to any system. Compare periods against known worlds.
Transit Depth Simulator
Model photometric dips. See a planet's transit light curve with limb darkening.
Radial Velocity Plotter
Full eccentric RV curve. Wobble amplitude, Doppler shift, instrument detectability.
Escape Velocity & Atmosphere
Which atmospheric molecules survive thermal escape at a given surface temperature.
Easy to use, visually appealing, and packed with fascinating astrophysics content that makes it my go-to resource.
Maruti K.
Physics · IISc Bangalore
The tools are super useful. It makes research a whole lot easier. I'll be returning to exovista.org soon.
Juan O.
Intern · LIA Aerospace
It's a well-made website. Perfect for scientists who want to get a deeper analysis of exoplanetary data.
Cyrus Wise
Intern · NASA
It is a pleasure to explore and navigate. I think it provides a great service to the community by presenting the available exoplanet data in a very accessible manner.
David R. Ardila
Deputy Program Manager · NASA
Become part of
the mission.
ExoVista offers two intern tracks for students and researchers who want to contribute to the frontier of exoplanet science — whether you prefer to research and write, or build reach and partnerships.
become an internResearch Intern
Write and publish scientific articles under your own name. Build a real publication record in astrophysics with full authorship credit.
Growth Intern
Partner with physics institutions, gather reputable testimonials, and help ExoVista grow its presence in the scientific community.
The universe
is catalogued
here.
Create a free account to access the full NASA archive, five interactive research tools, and long-form essays on exoplanet science.