NASA confirms 6,000 exoplanets outside our solar system

NASA has confirmed the discovery of 6,000 exoplanets beyond our solar system. The achievement comes just three years after the count reached 5,000 planets. The official tally is maintained by the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute (NExScI) at Caltech.

Dawn Gelino, acting director of NASA’s Astrophysics Division, stated:

“This milestone represents decades of cosmic exploration driven by NASA space telescopes… exploration that has completely changed the way humanity views the night sky.”

The number of confirmed exoplanets is constantly growing as scientists around the world make discoveries. There are more than 8,000 additional “candidate” planets that are still waiting to be confirmed.

The newly discovered exoplanets are incredibly varied. They range from small, rocky worlds to large gas giants. Some are covered in lava, while others are thought to have clouds made of gemstones.

Most of the planets are too faint to be seen directly. Scientists primarily use indirect methods to find them, such as the “transit” method, where they look for a brief dip in a star’s brightness as a planet passes in front of it.

Another method is the “radial velocity” method, which measures the slight “wobble” in a star caused by the gravitational pull of an orbiting planet.

NASA is focusing on finding and studying rocky planets similar to Earth and analysing their atmospheres for signs of life. New technologies and future missions like the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will help scientists block out starlight to get a clearer view of distant exoplanets.

What is an exoplanet?

An exoplanet, also known as an extrasolar planet, is a planet that exists outside of our own solar system and orbits a star other than the Sun.