In the News Twenty years after the first discovery of a planet orbiting another sun-like star, scientists have discovered the most Earth-like exoplanet ever: Kepler-452b. As of early 2012, Kepler has uncovered 17 stars with multiple planets as well as a new class of planets that orbit double and even triple stars. Click on a planet’s name to see 3D model of each planet and system along with vital statistics. Extrasolar planet, also called exoplanet, any planetary body that is outside the solar system and that usually orbits a star other than the Sun.Extrasolar planets were first discovered in 1992. This continuously updated exoplanetary encyclopedia combines interactive visualizations with detailed data on all known exoplanets. For centuries, fictional depictions of planets orbiting other stars have fired our imagination. This is the time of year when we often hear advertisements from companies that offer to name a star after one of your friends or loved ones — for a price, of course. The convention for designating exoplanets is an extension of the system used for designating multiple-star systems as adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Learn what exoplanet names were chosen for 14 stars & 31 exoplanets that orbit them by the International Astronomical Union based on a popular contest! This star is a subdwarf B star and has a red dwarf companion of 0.14 solar masses with a semi-major axis of slightly under 4 million kilometers from the primary component. Its exoplanet Fomalhaut b—three times further from the star than Pluto is from our sun—was discovered in 2008 in Hubble Space Telescope images, the first exoplanet to … More than 4,000 are known, and about 6,000 await further confirmation. The IAU said that astronomers have already discovered more than 4,000 exoplanets orbiting other stars, and the number of discoveries has been … From the desert world of Arrakis in Dune to the lush jungles of Yoda's planet Dagobah in Star Wars, we humans have been fascinated with the idea of exotic, far-off worlds.. We now know that worlds beyond our solar system—known as exoplanets—do exist. These exoplanets orbit a range of star types, from M-type stars, known as red dwarfs, to sun-like G-type stars such as Tau Ceti. What makes it the most Earth-like exoplanet ever discovered? So, for example, the exoplanet formerly known as HAT-P-36b - … The NN Serpentis system has two exoplanets (NN Serpentis c and NN Serpentis d), with the star at ~57,000K. For exoplanets orbiting a single star, the IAU designation is formed by taking the designated or proper name of its parent star, and adding a lower case letter. Hundreds of thousands of people from 112 countries helped select names for distant exoplanets and their stars. Why study exoplanets? Located in the habitable zone of a star very much like our sun, Kepler-452b is only about 60 percent wider than Earth.