{"id":30958,"date":"2025-09-19T05:49:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T05:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/30958\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T05:49:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T05:49:09","slug":"the-tally-is-in-6000-exoplanets-now-confirmed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/30958\/","title":{"rendered":"The tally is in! 6,000 exoplanets now confirmed"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA published a longer version of this story on September 17, 2025. Edits by EarthSky.<\/a><\/p>\n

6,000 exoplanets!<\/p>\n

NASA announced<\/a> on September 17, 2025, that its tally of planets outside our solar system has reached 6,000. And this milestone comes just over three decades since the first exoplanets were found. NASA said in a statement:<\/p>\n

Confirmed planets are added to the count on a rolling basis by scientists from around the world. So no single planet is the 6,000th entry. The number is monitored by NASA\u2019s Exoplanet Science Institute (NExScI), based at Caltech\u2019s IPAC in Pasadena, California. There are more than 8,000 additional candidate planets awaiting confirmation \u2026<\/p>\n

Shawn Domagal-Goldman<\/a>, acting director, Astrophysics Division, NASA Headquarters in Washington, commented:<\/p>\n

This milestone represents decades of cosmic exploration driven by NASA space telescopes. This exploration has completely changed the way humanity views the night sky. Step by step, from discovery to characterization, NASA missions have built the foundation to answering a fundamental question: Are we alone?<\/a> <\/p>\n

\"6,000Here are multiple artist\u2019s concepts, based on scientific information about the known exoplanets. Scientists have found more than 6,000 exoplanets (planets outside our solar system) throughout the galaxy. However, they can only study most of them indirectly. But scientists know they vary widely, from small, rocky worlds and gas giants to water-rich planets<\/a> and those as hot as stars. Image via NASA<\/a>\/ Goddard Space Flight Center.
\nMany distant solar systems<\/p>\n

The milestone comes 30 years after the first exoplanet was discovered around a star similar to our sun, in 1995. (Before that, a few planets<\/a> had been identified around stars that had burned all their fuel and collapsed.) In fact, researchers think there are billions of planets<\/a> in the Milky Way galaxy. But finding them remains a challenge. Scientists have discovered many individual planets with fascinating characteristics. In addition, as the total number of known exoplanets climbs, scientists can see how the general planet population compares to the planets of our own solar system.<\/p>\n

For example, our solar system hosts an equal number of rocky and giant planets. But rocky planets appear to be more common in the universe. Researchers have also found a range of planets entirely different from those in our solar system. There are Jupiter-size planets that orbit closer to their parent star than Mercury orbits the sun; planets that orbit two stars<\/a>, dead stars, and no stars<\/a>; planets covered in lava; some with the density of Styrofoam; and others with clouds made of gemstones<\/a>. Dawn Gelino<\/a>, head of NASA\u2019s Exoplanet Exploration Program (ExEP), located at the agency\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, said:<\/p>\n

Each of the different types of planets we discover gives us information about the conditions under which planets can form and, ultimately, how common planets like Earth might be, and where we should be looking for them. If we want to find out if we\u2019re alone in the universe, all of this knowledge is essential.<\/p>\n

\"TenArtist\u2019s concept of hot Jupiter<\/a> exoplanets. Hot Jupiters resemble our solar system\u2019s giant planet Jupiter, but orbit much closer to their stars. Image via NASA\/ Unsplash<\/a>.
\n6,000 exoplanets + ??<\/p>\n

Fewer than 100 exoplanets have been directly imaged<\/a>. In fact, most planets are so faint they get lost in the light from their parent star. The other four methods of planet detection are indirect. For instance, with the transit method<\/a>, astronomers look for a star to dim for a short period as an orbiting planet passes in front of it.<\/p>\n

To account for the possibility that something other than an exoplanet is responsible for a particular signal, scientists must confirm most exoplanet candidates by follow-up observations. Often scientists must use an additional telescope, and that takes time. That\u2019s why there is a long list of candidates in the NASA Exoplanet Archive<\/a> (hosted by NExScI) waiting to be confirmed. Aurora Kesseli<\/a>, the deputy science lead for the NASA Exoplanet Archive at IPAC, said:<\/p>\n

We really need the whole community working together if we want to maximize our investments in these missions that are churning out exoplanets candidates. A big part of what we do at NExScI is build tools that help the community go out and turn candidate planets into confirmed planets.<\/p>\n

The rate of exoplanet discoveries has accelerated in recent years. The database reached 5,000 confirmed exoplanets just three years ago. Moreover, this trend seems likely to continue. Kesseli and her colleagues anticipate receiving thousands of additional exoplanet candidates from the ESA (European Space Agency) Gaia mission. Gaia finds planets through a technique called astrometry<\/a>. In addition, NASA\u2019s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope<\/a> will discover thousands of new exoplanets primarily through a technique called gravitational microlensing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

New exoplanet search tools<\/p>\n

At NASA, the future of exoplanet science will emphasize finding rocky planets similar to Earth and studying their atmospheres for biosignatures<\/a>. Those are any characteristic, element, molecule, substance, or feature that can be used as evidence of past or present life. NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope has already analyzed the chemistry of over 100 exoplanet atmospheres.<\/p>\n

But studying the atmospheres of planets the size and temperature of Earth will require new technology. Specifically, scientists need better tools to block the glare of the star a planet orbits. And in the case of an Earth-like planet, the glare would be significant. The sun is about 10 billion times brighter than Earth, which would be more than enough to drown out our home planet\u2019s light if viewed by a distant observer.<\/p>\n

NASA has two main initiatives to try overcoming this hurdle. The Roman telescope will carry a technology demonstration instrument called the Roman Coronagraph<\/a>. It will test new technologies for blocking starlight and making faint planets visible. At its peak performance, the coronagraph should be able to directly image a planet the size and temperature of Jupiter orbiting a star like our sun, and at a similar distance from that star. With its microlensing survey and coronagraphic observations, Roman will reveal new details about the diversity of planetary systems. It will show how common solar systems like our own may be across the galaxy.<\/p>\n

Additional advances in coronagraph technology will be necessary to build a coronagraph that can detect a planet like Earth. In fact, NASA is working on a concept for such a mission, currently named the Habitable Worlds Observatory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

NASA has confirmed 6,000 exoplanets!<\/p>\n

Bottom line: NASA announced this week that it has confirmed a tally of 6,000 exoplanets, or worlds orbiting distant stars.<\/p>\n

EarthSky Voices
\n View Articles<\/a><\/p>\n

About the Author:<\/p>\n

Members of the EarthSky community – including scientists, as well as science and nature writers from across the globe – weigh in on what’s important to them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASA published a longer version of this story on September 17, 2025. Edits by EarthSky. 6,000 exoplanets! NASA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":["post-30958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}