Explore the NASA Exoplanet Archive
From the first planets found by pulsar timing to Kepler’s discovery surges, new tools transformed the search for other worlds. Explore when planets were discovered, which methods revealed them, and the missions behind the milestones.
6,372 confirmed planets · NASA Exoplanet Archive snapshot: September 29, 2026
Type a year or select a bar; choose All years or click the selected bar again to clear it. The planet table and pie chart below share your year and method selection. In the total view, a selected year still shows only its new discoveries below.
Confirmed planets discovered in each year
Discovery year
Other methods groups the remaining techniques; choose one in the method filter to see it individually.
All years selected
All methods. This selection applies to both the planet table and the discovery-method pie chart.
6,372planets across all years
Counts include all discovery methods.
| Planet / NASA record | Year | Discovery method | Radius (Earth = 1) | Period (days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Com b ↗ | 2007 | Radial Velocity | 12.20 | 323.21 |
| 11 UMi b ↗ | 2009 | Radial Velocity | 12.30 | 516.22 |
| 14 And b ↗ | 2008 | Radial Velocity | 13.10 | 186.76 |
| 14 Her b ↗ | 2002 | Radial Velocity | 12.50 | 1766.41 |
| 16 Cyg B b ↗ | 1996 | Radial Velocity | 13.50 | 798.50 |
| 17 Sco b ↗ | 2020 | Radial Velocity | 12.90 | 578.38 |
| 18 Del b ↗ | 2008 | Radial Velocity | 12.50 | 982.85 |
| 1RXS J160929.1-210524 b ↗ | 2008 | Imaging | 18.65 | Unknown |
| 24 Boo b ↗ | 2018 | Radial Velocity | 13.90 | 30.33 |
| 24 Sex b ↗ | 2010 | Radial Velocity | 13.40 | 452.80 |
| 24 Sex c ↗ | 2010 | Radial Velocity | 13.90 | 883.00 |
| 2M0437 b ↗ | 2021 | Imaging | 13.00 | Unknown |
Showing 1-12 of 6,372 discoveries.
6,372 planets in the same selection as the table above. Each planet is counted once, under its archive discovery method; other methods may later confirm or study it.
| Method | Planets | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Transit | 4,709 | 73.9% |
| Radial Velocity | 1,202 | 18.9% |
| Microlensing | 292 | 4.6% |
| Imaging | 97 | 1.5% |
| Other methods | 72 | 1.1% |
Other methods: Transit Timing Variations (29), Eclipse Timing Variations (17), Orbital Brightness Modulation (9), Pulsar Timing (8), Astrometry (6), Pulsation Timing Variations (2), Disk Kinematics (1).
Transits dominate the full catalog because surveys such as Kepler and TESS repeatedly measured the brightness of large numbers of stars. These shares describe detected planets, not the underlying frequency of planets detectable by each technique.
Discovery year is the archive’s assigned discovery date. Counts reflect this downloaded snapshot, not a live NASA total. Survey design, detection limits, validation, and reporting all affect annual counts. NASA Exoplanet Archive ↗
Follow the evidence, instruments, and missions behind the timeline. Explore a milestone year to connect its story with the catalog.
Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail found planets around pulsar PSR B1257+12 by measuring changes in the arrival times of its radio pulses. Pulsar timing proved planets existed beyond the Solar System, but it applies to an unusual kind of stellar remnant. NASA history
Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz detected 51 Pegasi b through radial velocity: its gravity makes its star move slightly toward and away from Earth. Improved spectrographs made such small shifts measurable, and radial velocity became an important early discovery method. NASA history
Teams including David Charbonneau and Greg Henry observed HD 209458 b crossing its star in 1999, establishing transits as a way to measure a planet's size. The OGLE and MOA collaborations then found a planet through gravitational microlensing, and Gael Chauvin's team imaged 2M1207 b, confirmed in 2005. These methods reached planets that stellar wobble alone could not describe. Transits · Microlensing · Imaging
Kepler, led by principal investigator William Borucki, monitored many stars continuously. Better analysis and statistical validation turned candidate signals into large batches of confirmed planets: NASA announced 715 in 2014 and 1,284 in 2016. The spikes in those years partly reflect when planets were validated and reported, not a sudden change in how many planets exist. 2014 announcement · 2016 announcement
TESS, launched in 2018 under principal investigator George Ricker, surveys much of the sky for transits around relatively bright, nearby stars. Ground-based radial-velocity observations help confirm candidates and measure masses; telescopes such as Webb can then study some atmospheres. Candidate counts should not be confused with confirmed discoveries. TESS mission · Follow-up
Astrometry measures a star's tiny motion across the sky, while microlensing can reveal planets at wider separations from their stars. Gaia's future releases are expected to expand astrometric candidates, and the recently launched Roman Space Telescope is preparing for a microlensing survey. Neither future yield is included in this snapshot. Gaia · Roman