How Many Exoplanets Have Been Discovered?

Image: NASA

NASA has confirmed the existence of a massive 5,502 planets beyond our own solar system

Image: NASA

All of the planets in our solar system orbit around the Sun. Planets that orbit around other stars are called exoplanets

Image: NASA

Scientists discovered six new exoplanets in September last year

Image: NASA

The first exoplanets were confirmed when scientists detected twin planets Poltergeist and Phobetor orbiting the pulsar PSR B1257+12

Image: NASA

There are a number of both space and ground-based instruments and observatories that scientists have used to detect and study exoplanets

Image: NASA

NASA has said that these exoplanets include small, rocky worlds like Earth and "super Earths" which are larger than our own

Image: NASA

There are also gas giants several larger than Jupiter and "mini-Neptunes."

Image: NASA

Some of these planets orbit two stars at once and others stubbornly revolve around the collapsed remnants of dead stars

Image: NASA

One way to search for exoplanets is to look for "wobbly" stars

Image: NASA

Image: Unsplash

Check More Stories

ndtv.com