NASA has found 5,000 exoplanets

The number of confirmed exoplanets in our galaxy has surpassed 5,000, with NASA saying this is just a small fraction of the billions of planets the Milky Way likely harbours


1992: First exoplanet (planet orbiting star outside our solar system) detected with discovery of two planets orbiting pulsar PSR B1257+12 (2,300 light-years away, in constellation of Virgo). Third planet found there in 1994


TYPES OF EXOPLANETS (% of discoveries falling into four categories)

Gas giant: Can be hotter than some stars. Size of Saturn or Jupiter, or vastly bigger
30%

Exoplanets found using space telescopes like Kepler

Neptune-like: Can be ice giant or much warmer. Similar in size to Neptune and Uranus
35%

Super-Earth: Can be rocky or shrouded in puffy atmosphere. Size range between Earth and Neptune
31%

Terrestrial: Rocky planet around size of Earth or smaller
4%


HOW WE SIZE UP
JUPITER 
SATURN
NEPTUNE
URANUS 
MERCURY 
VENUS
EARTH
MARS


Oddities discovered include: Hot Jupiters – gas giants in close orbit around scorching stars – and planets orbiting two stars at once (reminiscent of Tatooine in Star Wars)


Someday we may find habitable exoplanets... or one already inhabited


Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech, Space Facts 
Picture: © Lucasfilm Ltd 
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