NASA Makes History with the Discovery of 6 New Exoplanets

NASA has announced the discovery of six new exoplanets, bringing the total number of confirmed planets beyond our Solar System to an impressive 5,502. This achievement marks a major milestone in our quest to understand the universe and the potential for life beyond Earth.
The journey to this discovery began in 1992 when scientists first confirmed the existence of exoplanets with the discovery of Poltergeist and Phobetor orbiting the pulsar PSR B1257+12. Since then, the number of known exoplanets has grown exponentially, surpassing 5,000 by March 2022.

The Six New Worlds:

HD 36384 b: A super-Jupiter orbiting an M giant star nearly 40 times the size of the Sun.
TOI-198 b: A potentially rocky planet located on the inner edge of its star’s habitable zone.
TOI-2095 b and TOI-2095 c: Two hot super-Earths orbiting the same M dwarf star.
TOI-4860 b: A rare “hot Jupiter” that completes an orbit around its M dwarf star in just 1.52 days.

Discovery Methods:

These planets were discovered using various detection techniques, including the radial velocity method, which measures stellar wobble, and the transit method, which detects the dimming of starlight as planets pass in front of their stars.
Since the first exoplanet discovery, the field has seen remarkable growth. NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), launched in 2018, has played a crucial role in identifying thousands of exoplanet candidates. Other space telescopes, such as Spitzer, Hubble, and the James Webb Space Telescope, have also contributed significantly to this research.
Looking to the future, NASA plans to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope in May 2027, featuring a coronagraph instrument designed to directly image exoplanets. This technology could pave the way for future missions like the proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory, which will search for signs of life on exoplanets.
This milestone showcases the rapid progress in exoplanet discovery—from zero confirmed planets just three decades ago to over 5,500 today. As we continue to explore these distant worlds, the possibility of finding habitable planets and understanding our place in the universe grows ever closer.

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