Planets worth knowing
The Solar System's worlds plus the exoplanets that made history, broke records or simply defy explanation. Every number is sourced; every card opens into an orbit diagram and a 3D render.
The tight knot of Kepler worlds marks the single patch of sky the Kepler telescope stared at for four years. Open the full-screen map.
Planet · TerrestrialMercury
The smallest planet and the fastest, scorched by day and frozen by night
- Radius
- 0.38 R⊕
- From Sun
- 0.387 AU
- Status
- known
Planet · TerrestrialVenus
Earth's twin in size, a runaway greenhouse in fact
- Radius
- 0.95 R⊕
- From Sun
- 0.723 AU
- Status
- known
Planet · TerrestrialEarth
The only known inhabited world, and the yardstick for every other planet
- Radius
- 1 R⊕
- From Sun
- 1 AU
- Status
- known
Planet · TerrestrialMars
The red desert world that once had rivers, lakes and perhaps a northern ocean
- Radius
- 0.53 R⊕
- From Sun
- 1.52 AU
- Status
- known
Planet · Gas giantJupiter
The giant that outweighs all other planets combined, with a storm older than the telescope
- Radius
- 1 R♃
- From Sun
- 5.2 AU
- Status
- known
Planet · Gas giantSaturn
The ringed giant whose average density is lower than water
- Radius
- 0.84 R♃
- From Sun
- 9.57 AU
- Status
- known
Planet · Ice giantUranus
The ice giant that rolls around the Sun on its side
- Radius
- 0.36 R♃
- From Sun
- 19.16 AU
- Status
- known
Planet · Ice giantNeptune
The windiest world we know, found with mathematics before a telescope
- Radius
- 3.88 R⊕
- From Sun
- 30.18 AU
- Status
- known
Dwarf planet · Dwarf planetPluto
The demoted ninth planet that turned out to be a geologically alive world
- Radius
- 0.19 R⊕
- From Sun
- 39.48 AU
- Found
- 1930
Dwarf planet · Dwarf planetCeres
The largest object in the asteroid belt, with salty bright spots and a muddy, briny interior
- Radius
- 0.07 R⊕
- From Sun
- 2.77 AU
- Found
- 1801
Dwarf planet · Dwarf planetEris
The distant world whose discovery got Pluto demoted
- Radius
- 0.18 R⊕
- From Sun
- 67.9 AU
- Found
- 2003
Dwarf planet · Dwarf planetHaumea
An egg-shaped dwarf planet spinning every four hours, with its own ring
- Radius
- 0.12 R⊕
- From Sun
- 43.1 AU
- Found
- 2003
Dwarf planet · Dwarf planetMakemake
A bright, reddish Kuiper belt world with a surprising hint of warmth
- Radius
- 0.11 R⊕
- From Sun
- 45.6 AU
- Found
- 2005
Dwarf planet · Dwarf planetSedna
A deep-red world on an 11,000-year orbit that never comes close to the planets
- Radius
- 0.08 R⊕
- From Sun
- 544 AU
- Found
- 2003
Hypothetical · HypotheticalPlanet Nine
The unseen super-Earth that might be shepherding the outer Solar System
- Mass
- 10 M⊕
- From Sun
- —
- Status
- hypothetical
Exoplanet · Gas giant51 Pegasi bDimidium
The 1995 discovery that proved planets orbit other Sun-like stars
- Radius
- 1.26 R♃
- Distance
- 50.4 ly
- Found
- 1995
Exoplanet · TerrestrialPSR B1257+12 bDraugr
The smallest known exoplanet, twice the mass of the Moon, circling a dead star
- Radius
- 0.34 R⊕
- Distance
- 1,957 ly
- Found
- 1994
Exoplanet · Super-EarthPSR B1257+12 cPoltergeist
One of the very first exoplanets, found around the corpse of an exploded star
- Radius
- 1.91 R⊕
- Distance
- 1,957 ly
- Found
- 1992
Exoplanet · Gas giantHD 209458 bOsiris
The first planet seen crossing its star and the first with a detected atmosphere
- Radius
- 1.39 R♃
- Distance
- 158 ly
- Found
- 1999
Exoplanet · Gas giant2M1207b
The first exoplanet ever photographed, glowing red around a brown dwarf
- Radius
- 1.4 R♃
- Distance
- 210 ly
- Found
- 2004
Exoplanet · Super-EarthCoRoT-7b
The first confirmed rocky exoplanet — a lava world with 20-hour years
- Radius
- 1.68 R⊕
- Distance
- 522 ly
- Found
- 2009
Exoplanet · Super-EarthKepler-10b
Kepler's first rocky planet, denser than Earth and hotter than lava
- Radius
- 1.47 R⊕
- Distance
- 605 ly
- Found
- 2011
Exoplanet · Super-EarthKepler-22b
The first Kepler planet confirmed in a star's habitable zone
- Radius
- 2.1 R⊕
- Distance
- 635 ly
- Found
- 2011
Exoplanet · Super-EarthKepler-186f
The first Earth-sized planet found in another star's habitable zone
- Radius
- 1.17 R⊕
- Distance
- 579 ly
- Found
- 2014
Exoplanet · Super-EarthKepler-452b
'Earth's cousin': a 385-day orbit around a star much like the Sun
- Radius
- 1.63 R⊕
- Distance
- 1,799 ly
- Found
- 2015
Exoplanet · Gas giantKepler-16b
The real Tatooine — the first planet seen transiting two suns
- Radius
- 0.75 R♃
- Distance
- 245 ly
- Found
- 2011
Exoplanet · Neptune-likeOGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb
'Hoth': the first cold super-Earth, found by a chance alignment of stars
- Radius
- 2.21 R⊕
- Distance
- 21,526 ly
- Found
- 2005
Exoplanet · Gas giantUpsilon Andromedae bSaffar
Part of the first multi-planet system found around a normal star
- Radius
- 1.25 R♃
- Distance
- 43.7 ly
- Found
- 1996
Exoplanet · ExoplanetGliese 581 gZarmina
The 'first habitable planet' that probably never existed
- Mass
- 3.1 M⊕
- Distance
- 20.3 ly
- Found
- 2010
Exoplanet · ExoplanetFomalhaut bDagon
The first exoplanet 'photographed' in visible light — now thought to be a cloud of dust
- Radius
- —
- Distance
- 25.1 ly
- Found
- 2008
Exoplanet · Gas giantPSR B1620-26 bMethuselah
The oldest known planet, almost as old as the Universe
- Radius
- 1.19 R♃
- Distance
- 5,871 ly
- Found
- 2003
Exoplanet · Gas giant8 Ursae Minoris bHalla
The planet that should have been swallowed by its star
- Radius
- 1.2 R♃
- Distance
- 530 ly
- Found
- 2015
Exoplanet · Gas giantWD 1856+534 b
An intact giant planet orbiting a dead white dwarf every 34 hours
- Radius
- 0.93 R♃
- Distance
- 80.7 ly
- Found
- 2020
Exoplanet · Gas giantKepler-1647b
The longest-period transiting circumbinary planet, inside its two suns' habitable zone
- Radius
- 1.06 R♃
- Distance
- 3,954 ly
- Found
- 2016
Exoplanet · Gas giantHD 80606 b
A planet on a comet-like orbit that is flash-heated by 700 degrees in hours
- Radius
- 1.03 R♃
- Distance
- 217 ly
- Found
- 2001
Exoplanet · Gas giantHR 5183 b
A super-Jupiter that spends decades in the cold, then slingshots past its star
- Radius
- 1.17 R♃
- Distance
- 103 ly
- Found
- 2019
Exoplanet · Gas giantTIC 241249530 b
The most eccentric transiting planet, caught becoming a hot Jupiter
- Radius
- 1.19 R♃
- Distance
- 1,058 ly
- Found
- 2024
Exoplanet · Gas giantKepler-413b
A wobbling circumbinary world with wildly erratic seasons
- Radius
- 0.39 R♃
- Distance
- 2,764 ly
- Found
- 2014
Exoplanet · TerrestrialGliese 367 bTahay
An iron cannonball of a planet that circles its star in less than 8 hours
- Radius
- 0.74 R⊕
- Distance
- 30.7 ly
- Found
- 2021
Exoplanet · Super-EarthKepler-78b
An Earth-sized lava world with an 8.5-hour year
- Radius
- 1.2 R⊕
- Distance
- 406 ly
- Found
- 2013
Exoplanet · Super-EarthK2-141b
A world where rock evaporates, blows as supersonic wind and rains back as stone
- Radius
- 1.51 R⊕
- Distance
- 202 ly
- Found
- 2018
Exoplanet · Super-Earth55 Cancri eJanssen
The 'diamond planet' with a magma ocean and a JWST-detected atmosphere
- Radius
- 1.88 R⊕
- Distance
- 41.1 ly
- Found
- 2004
Exoplanet · Gas giantWASP-12b
An egg-shaped hot Jupiter being eaten by its star
- Radius
- 1.96 R♃
- Distance
- 1,393 ly
- Found
- 2008
Exoplanet · Gas giantWASP-76b
Where it rains molten iron
- Radius
- 1.85 R♃
- Distance
- 634 ly
- Found
- 2016
Exoplanet · Gas giantWASP-121bTylos
An ultra-hot Jupiter with a mapped 3D atmosphere and metals escaping to space
- Radius
- 1.74 R♃
- Distance
- 880 ly
- Found
- 2016
Exoplanet · Gas giantKELT-9b
The hottest known planet — hotter than many stars
- Radius
- 1.94 R♃
- Distance
- 667 ly
- Found
- 2017
Exoplanet · Gas giantTrES-2b
The darkest known planet, blacker than coal
- Radius
- 1.36 R♃
- Distance
- 702 ly
- Found
- 2006
Exoplanet · Neptune-likeWASP-107b
A cotton-candy giant with sand clouds and a helium tail
- Radius
- 0.93 R♃
- Distance
- 211 ly
- Found
- 2017
Exoplanet · Neptune-likeKepler-51d
One of three super-puff planets in a 500-million-year-old system
- Radius
- 0.87 R♃
- Distance
- 2,557 ly
- Found
- 2014
Exoplanet · Neptune-likeWASP-193b
A planet 50% bigger than Jupiter with the density of cotton candy
- Radius
- 1.32 R♃
- Distance
- 1,181 ly
- Found
- 2023
Exoplanet · Gas giantHD 189733 b
A deep-blue hot Jupiter with glass rain, hypersonic winds and a rotten-egg smell
- Radius
- 1.13 R♃
- Distance
- 64.5 ly
- Found
- 2005
Exoplanet · Neptune-likeGliese 1214 bEnaiposha
The archetypal sub-Neptune, wrapped in haze that defeated Hubble
- Radius
- 2.73 R⊕
- Distance
- 47.8 ly
- Found
- 2009
Exoplanet · Super-EarthK2-18b
The possible ocean world at the centre of the biosignature debate
- Radius
- 2.37 R⊕
- Distance
- 124 ly
- Found
- 2015
Exoplanet · Neptune-likeTOI-270 d
A nearby sub-Neptune whose JWST spectrum is rich in methane and water
- Radius
- 2 R⊕
- Distance
- 73.3 ly
- Found
- 2019
Exoplanet · Super-EarthLHS 1140 b
A temperate super-Earth that may be a water world with a nitrogen atmosphere
- Radius
- 1.73 R⊕
- Distance
- 48.9 ly
- Found
- 2017
Exoplanet · Super-EarthKepler-138d
One of the first candidate water worlds, half water by volume
- Radius
- 1.51 R⊕
- Distance
- 218 ly
- Found
- 2014
Exoplanet · Gas giantTOI-849 b
The exposed core of a giant planet, stripped of its gas
- Radius
- 3.64 R⊕
- Distance
- 736 ly
- Found
- 2020
Exoplanet · Neptune-likeKepler-1520b
A Mercury-sized planet disintegrating into a dusty comet-like tail
- Radius
- 0.51 R♃
- Distance
- 1,983 ly
- Found
- 2016
Exoplanet · Neptune-likeGliese 436 b
A hot Neptune trailing a giant cloud of hydrogen
- Radius
- 0.37 R♃
- Distance
- 31.8 ly
- Found
- 2004
Exoplanet · Gas giantWASP-69b
A hot Saturn with a helium tail over half a million kilometres long
- Radius
- 1 R♃
- Distance
- 163 ly
- Found
- 2014
Exoplanet · Gas giantKepler-7b
The first exoplanet to have its clouds mapped
- Radius
- 1.62 R♃
- Distance
- 3,009 ly
- Found
- 2009
Exoplanet · Gas giantHAT-P-7b
Weather on a gas giant: shifting winds and clouds of ruby and sapphire
- Radius
- 1.51 R♃
- Distance
- 1,112 ly
- Found
- 2008
Exoplanet · Gas giantWASP-39bBocaprins
JWST's showcase planet: first clear CO2 detection and first exoplanet photochemistry
- Radius
- 1.28 R♃
- Distance
- 698 ly
- Found
- 2011
Exoplanet · Gas giantWASP-96b
The planet behind JWST's first published exoplanet spectrum
- Radius
- 1.2 R♃
- Distance
- 1,150 ly
- Found
- 2014
Exoplanet · Gas giantWASP-17bDitsö̀
A retrograde puff-ball with clouds of quartz
- Radius
- 1.87 R♃
- Distance
- 1,324 ly
- Found
- 2009
Exoplanet · Gas giantWASP-43b
A hot Jupiter whose global weather map JWST drew in a single day
- Radius
- 0.93 R♃
- Distance
- 283 ly
- Found
- 2011
Exoplanet · Gas giantWASP-103b
The first planet seen squashed into a rugby ball by its star's tides
- Radius
- 1.53 R♃
- Distance
- 1,225 ly
- Found
- 2014
Exoplanet · Super-EarthProxima Centauri b
The closest exoplanet to Earth, in the habitable zone of our nearest star
- Radius
- 1.02 R⊕
- Distance
- 4.2 ly
- Found
- 2016
Exoplanet · TerrestrialBarnard's Star b
A sub-Earth around the second-closest star system, confirmed after a false start
- Radius
- 0.72 R⊕
- Distance
- 6 ly
- Found
- 2024
Exoplanet · TerrestrialGliese 12 b
A temperate Earth-to-Venus-sized world 40 light-years away
- Radius
- 0.93 R⊕
- Distance
- 39.8 ly
- Found
- 2024
Exoplanet · TerrestrialTRAPPIST-1e
The most promising of seven Earth-sized worlds around an ultra-cool dwarf
- Radius
- 0.92 R⊕
- Distance
- 40.5 ly
- Found
- 2017
Exoplanet · Super-EarthTRAPPIST-1b
The innermost TRAPPIST-1 planet: first rocky exoplanet with its heat measured by JWST
- Radius
- 1.12 R⊕
- Distance
- 40.5 ly
- Found
- 2016
Exoplanet · Super-EarthTOI-700 d
TESS's first Earth-sized planet in a habitable zone
- Radius
- 1.15 R⊕
- Distance
- 102 ly
- Found
- 2020
Exoplanet · Super-EarthTeegarden's Star b
An Earth-mass planet 12.5 light-years away with one of the highest Earth-similarity scores
- Radius
- 1.05 R⊕
- Distance
- 12.5 ly
- Found
- 2019
Exoplanet · Super-EarthLP 791-18 d
An Earth-sized world probably as volcanic as Jupiter's moon Io
- Radius
- 1.03 R⊕
- Distance
- 86.4 ly
- Found
- 2023
Exoplanet · Super-EarthKepler-1649c
The most Earth-like planet in Kepler's data, found by eye after an algorithm missed it
- Radius
- 1.06 R⊕
- Distance
- 301 ly
- Found
- 2020
Exoplanet · Super-EarthKepler-442b
A rocky super-Earth often ranked among the most habitable known worlds
- Radius
- 1.34 R⊕
- Distance
- 1,194 ly
- Found
- 2015
Exoplanet · Super-EarthKepler-62f
A cool super-Earth that could stay habitable with a thick CO2 blanket
- Radius
- 1.41 R⊕
- Distance
- 981 ly
- Found
- 2013
Exoplanet · Gas giantGliese 504 b
The 'pink planet': a young giant still glowing magenta from its formation
- Radius
- 1.08 R♃
- Distance
- 57.2 ly
- Found
- 2013
Exoplanet · Gas giantHR 8799 e
Part of the first directly imaged multi-planet system, now seen moving in a decade-long movie
- Radius
- 1.17 R♃
- Distance
- 135 ly
- Found
- 2010
Exoplanet · Gas giantBeta Pictoris b
A young super-Jupiter carving a disk, with the first measured exoplanet day length
- Radius
- 1.65 R♃
- Distance
- 64.4 ly
- Found
- 2008
Exoplanet · Gas giantPDS 70b
A planet caught in the act of being born
- Radius
- 1.96 R♃
- Distance
- 369 ly
- Found
- 2018
Exoplanet · Gas giantHIP 65426 b
The first exoplanet directly imaged by JWST
- Radius
- 1.5 R♃
- Distance
- 355 ly
- Found
- 2017
Exoplanet · Gas giantEpsilon Indi Ab
The nearest directly imaged exoplanet: a cold Jupiter around a Sun-like star 12 light-years away
- Radius
- 1.13 R♃
- Distance
- 11.9 ly
- Found
- 2019
Exoplanet · Gas giantTWA 7 b
The lightest planet ever directly imaged, sitting in a gap in a dusty ring
- Radius
- 1.13 R♃
- Distance
- 111 ly
- Found
- 2025
Exoplanet · Gas giant14 Herculis c
One of the coldest imaged exoplanets, in a system whose two planets orbit at crazy angles
- Radius
- 1.12 R♃
- Distance
- 58.5 ly
- Found
- 2021
Exoplanet · Gas giant51 Eridani b
A young Jupiter twin with the strongest methane signature of any imaged planet
- Radius
- 1 R♃
- Distance
- 97.1 ly
- Found
- 2015
Rogue planet · Free-floatingPSO J318.5-22
A planet drifting alone through space with no star at all
- Radius
- 1.53 R♃
- Distance
- 80.2 ly
- Found
- 2013
Rogue planet · Free-floatingSIMP J01365663+0933473
A starless wanderer with auroras and a magnetic field 200 times Jupiter's
- Radius
- —
- Distance
- 20 ly
- Status
- known
Exoplanet · Gas giantHD 106906 b
A giant planet 730 AU from its stars — a Planet Nine lookalike
- Radius
- 1.11 R♃
- Distance
- 336 ly
- Found
- 2013
Exoplanet · Neptune-likeKepler-1625b
Host of the first exomoon candidate — a Neptune-sized moon
- Radius
- 0.54 R♃
- Distance
- 7,535 ly
- Found
- 2016
Exoplanet · Super-EarthKepler-90i
The eighth planet found by a neural network, tying our Solar System's planet count
- Radius
- 1.32 R⊕
- Distance
- 2,767 ly
- Found
- 2017
Exoplanet · Neptune-likeHD 110067 b
Innermost of six planets locked in a perfect chain of orbital resonances
- Radius
- 2.2 R⊕
- Distance
- 105 ly
- Found
- 2023
Exoplanet · Neptune-likeTOI-1338 b
The TESS circumbinary planet found by a 17-year-old intern
- Radius
- 0.68 R♃
- Distance
- 1,301 ly
- Found
- 2020
Exoplanet · Gas giantTOI-6894 b
A giant planet around a star only a fifth the mass of the Sun — which shouldn't be possible
- Radius
- 0.85 R♃
- Distance
- 241 ly
- Found
- 2025
Kepler-1658b
The first planet caught spiralling into an ageing star
- Radius
- 1.07 R♃
- Distance
- 2,629 ly
- Found
- 2019
Exoplanet · Neptune-likeHIP 67522 b
The youngest known hot Jupiter — and the first planet seen triggering flares on its star
- Radius
- 0.89 R♃
- Distance
- 415 ly
- Found
- 2020
Exoplanet · Neptune-likeAU Microscopii b
A newborn Neptune around a flaring star with a dusty disk, just 32 light-years away
- Radius
- 0.43 R♃
- Distance
- 31.7 ly
- Found
- 2020
Exoplanet · TerrestrialKepler-37b
A planet barely bigger than our Moon
- Radius
- 0.31 R⊕
- Distance
- 208 ly
- Found
- 2013
Exoplanet · Gas giantEpsilon Eridani bÆgir
The nearest Jupiter analogue, around a young Sun-like star 10.5 light-years away
- Radius
- 1.23 R♃
- Distance
- 10.5 ly
- Found
- 2000
Exoplanet · Gas giantGamma Cephei AbTadmor
Arguably the first exoplanet detected — in 1988, then retracted, then confirmed
- Radius
- 1.12 R♃
- Distance
- 46 ly
- Found
- 2003