Sign up for Exoplanet Archive email updates
For the current year's news, see the Exoplanet Archive News page. For other news archives by year, see the 2023, 2022, 2021, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2011-12 archives.
For a compilation of periodic tips that have appeared in past news items, see the Tip Archive.
To view only the most recently added planets and updated parameters (default and non-default), see this pre-filtered and pre-sorted interactive table.
The NASA Exoplanet Archive staff is taking a winter break Dec. 23 through Jan. 3, during which there will be no data or software updates. Responses to Helpdesk tickets and social media may also be delayed.
If you're attending the American Astronomical Society (AAS) winter meeting, held Jan.11-15, stop by the virtual Caltech/IPAC Archives and NExScI booths and say hello! Our staff will be on hand to Slack chat, give demos of any archive service, and answer those burning questions, like "How do I get my data into the archive?" We also have a webinar planned that will give an overview of ExoFOP and the NASA Exoplanet Archive. All registered attendees are invited to join us at 10:30 a.m. PT/1:30 p.m. ET Monday, January 11.
We wish everyone a safe and relaxing season, and we look forward to adding even more planets for you in 2021! (Maybe we'll even reach 5,000?)
For our FINAL 2020 data release, we present 17 new planets—more than half of them transits discovered by NASA's TESS. This brings the archive's total confirmed planet count to 4,324. Also, we are only 9 discoveries away from the 100th published, confirmed TESS planet!
The new planets are: TOI-481 b, TOI-892 b, TIC 237913194 b, HD 190007 b, HD 216520 b, HD 216520 c, TOI-122 b, TOI-237 b, WASP-186 b, WASP-187 b, K2-111 c, LP 714-47 b, TOI-942 b & c, WASP-107 c, TOI-251 b, and HAT-P-68 b.
Check out the new planetary data in the Planetary Systems Table (gamma) or its companion table, Planetary Systems Composite Parameters (beta), which offers a more complete table of planet parameters combined from multiple references and calculations. The Confirmed Planets, Composite Planet Data, and Extended Planet Data interactive tables are also updated with new planetary and stellar data.
A Gift to Users: Updated Planetary Systems Tables and Overviews
We're happy to announce the latest upgrade the Planetary Systems tables and the redesigned System Overview pages!
The Planetary Systems (PS) table, now in gamma, and Planetary Systems Composite Parameters (PSCP) table, now in beta, have been improved and enhanced based on user feedback and testing. Changes include:
In addition, the redesigned System Overview pages have also been bumped up to beta with the following updates:
Access the redesigned Overview pages by clicking on a Planet Name in either the PS or PSCP table.
For a complete list of improvements for each version of the tables, as well as the System Overviews, see the Archive 2.0 Release Notes page.
These improvements are part of the previously announced Archive 2.0 effort to create a more integrated and streamlined NASA Exoplanet Archive, which involves retiring the Confirmed Planets, Extended Planet Parameters, and Composite Parameters tables and replacing them with the Planetary Systems and Planetary Systems Composite Parameters tables, redesigning the consolidating overview pages, and serving archive data through a new Table Access Protocol (TAP) service.
Please note the retiring data tables will continue to be maintained for the coming months—with the aim of decomissioning these tables in mid-February 2021. More information—including a mapping of data between the old and new tables—is in this Transition document.
A planet found with gravitational microlensing, MOA-2013-BLG-220L b, and new transmission spectra are this week's new data.
The planets with new transmission spectra are WASP-31 b, KELT-11 b, WASP-21 b, HAT-P-12 b, WASP-74 b, and WASP-67 b; find them in the Transmission Spectroscopy interactive table. The new MOA planet data is in the Microlensing Planets Table, as well as the Planetary Systems Table (beta) and its companion table the Planetary Systems Composite Parameters (alpha), and the soon-to-be-retired Confirmed Planets, Composite Planet Data, and Extended Planet Data interactive tables.
There are five more planets in the archive this week, bringing the total confirmed exoplanet count to 4,306. The new planets are EPIC 201170410.02 (K2-327 b), EPIC 201757695.02 (K2-328 b), KOI-547.03 (Kepler-595 c), TOI-954 b, and EPIC 246193072 b (K2-329 b).
You can view all of the new data in our Planetary Systems Table (beta) or its companion table, Planetary Systems Composite Parameters (alpha), which offers a more complete table of planet parameters combined from multiple references and calculations. The Confirmed Planets, Composite Planet Data, and Extended Planet Data interactive tables are also updated with new planetary and stellar data.
Please note: We're still planning to retire the Confirmed Planets, Composite Planets, and Extended Planet Data tables in late January 2021. The new Planetary Systems and Planetary Systems Composite tables will replace them. An incremental, functional update on the PS and PSComp tables is planned for December, and we expect another update prior to the retirement of the older tables. This transition document is intended to help the community understand how the new tables map to the old tables and how the API queries can be changed to access the new PS and PSComp tables.
This week's planets include four discovered with gravitational microlensing, and one transiting planet discovered with Kepler data. The new planets are KMT-2016-BLG-2364L b, KMT-2016-BLG-2397L b, OGLE-2017-BLG-0604L b, OGLE-2017-BLG-1375L b, and Kepler-462 c.
View all of the new data in our Planetary Systems Table (beta) or its companion table, Planetary Systems Composite Parameters (alpha), which offers a more complete table of planet parameters combined from multiple references and calculations. You can also find microlensing system parameters in the Microlensing Planets Table.
We've also added new spectra to the Transmission Spectroscopy Table for KELT-11 b, WASP-103 b, WASP-21 b, WASP-117 b, and WASP-69 b.
There are four new planets this week, including gas giant NGTS-12 b, discovered by the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS). The other three planets are GJ 3473 b & c and TOI-837 b.
We've also added 14 solution sets for companion stars—data for additional stars in planet-hosting systems. View all of the new data in our Planetary Systems Table (beta) or its companion table, Planetary Systems Composite Parameters (alpha), which offers a more complete table of planet parameters combined from multiple references and calculations.
The Confirmed Planets, Composite Planet Data, and Extended Planet Data interactive tables are also updated with new planetary and stellar data. Please note that these three tables are being retired in late 2020/early 2021, as described in this transition document.
News panel image: Full NGTS and TESS light curves for NGTS-12. The red vertical lines give the positions of the observed transits of NGTS-12 b. Credit: Bryant et al. (2020).
This week marks another archive milestone: we've surpassed 100 microlensing exoplanets!
Three of the eight planets added this week were discovered and confirmed using gravitational microlensing. Though the bulk of the archive's 4,292 exoplanets were detected by other methods such as radial velocity motions and transits with Kepler and TESS, microlensing is the technique most sensitive to finding planets near the snow line (where water exists as a solid) of their host stars. The NASA Roman Space Telescope will use the microlensing technique to determine the frequency of planets in the outer reaches of planetary systems, complementing the statistical census begun by Kepler.
Learn more about microlensing—and other detection techniques—at the NASA Exoplanet Exploration website. Also, these animations from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab illustrate how the Roman Space Telescope will make microlensing observations. You can also learn more about Microlensing Resources in the Exoplanet Archive.
The new microlensing planets are OGLE-2018-BLG-1269L b, KMT-2018-BLG-0748L b, and KMT-2019-BLG-0842L b. The other new planets this week are TOI-540 b, TOI-1266 b & c, and TOI-421 b & c.
Data for the new microlensing planets are available in our interactive Microlensing Table, as well as the Planetary Systems Table (beta) and its companion table, Planetary Systems Composite Parameters (alpha), which offers a more complete table of planet parameters combined from multiple references and calculations.
The Confirmed Planets, Composite Planet Data, and Extended Planet Data interactive tables are also updated with new planetary and stellar data. Please note that these three tables are being retired in late 2020/early 2021, as described in this transition document.
The Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT) has released a new data set consisting of 6 million new time series from 22 new southern fields. Combined with previous KELT releases for a total coverage of 15,700 square degrees, this amounts to roughly 38% of the sky.
See our updated KELT documentation for more information, or use the KELT time series search tool. You may also download the entire KELT time series data set from our Bulk Download page.
News panel image credit: Ricardo Ramirez/University of Chile
We've got seven new planets this week, among them an ultra-hot, ultra-short-period Neptune called LTT 9779 b discovered by NASA's TESS mission. The other planets are HATS-71 b, HD 63433 b & c, TOI-763 b & c, and TOI-824 b. There are also seven new sets of companion star parameters.
View all of the new data in our Planetary Systems Table (beta) or its companion table, Planetary Systems Composite Parameters (alpha), which offers a more complete table of planet parameters combined from multiple references and calculations. The Confirmed Planets, Composite Planet Data, and Extended Planet Data interactive tables are also updated with new planetary and stellar data.
We've added data for WD 1856+534 b, an object considered to be the first intact planet found closely orbiting a white dwarf, as published in Nature today by Vanderberg et al. (2020). This particular discovery was made possible using data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and Spitzer Space Telescope. Read the NASA news release for more details.
Check out the WD 1856+534 Overview page for a compilation of data on the new planet, its host star, and nearby systems G229-20 A and B that are also named in the discovery paper.
This week's update contains 75 confirmed planets, bringing the archive's total planet count to 4,276. The new planets are:
The complete list of this week's new planets and their data, as well as newly added parameter sets for known planets, can be accessed in this pre-filtered interactive table.
You can also browse all self-consistent planet and host star solutions in our Planetary Systems Table (beta) or its companion table, Planetary Systems Composite Parameters (alpha), which offers a more complete table of planet parameters combined from multiple references and calculations. New microlensing solutions have also been added to the Microlensing Table.
The Confirmed Planets, Composite Planet Data, and Extended Planet Data interactive tables are also updated with new planetary and stellar data.
We have four new planets this week, bringing the archive's total planet count to 4,201. They are: HATS-37 A b, HATS-38 b, K2-315 b and HD 86226 c.
HD 86226 c, discovered by NASA's TESS as a transiting planet, is an interesting sibling planet to a previously known giant planet in the same system that was discovered with radial velocity. The new planet is smaller (a super-Earth) and takes only four days to orbit its sun; its bigger sibling has a mass similar to Saturn and has a 1600-day (2.7au) orbit.
Browse all self-consistent planet and host star solutions in our Planetary Systems Table (beta) or its companion table, Planetary Systems Composite Parameters (alpha), which offers a more complete table of planet parameters combined from multiple references and calculations.
The Confirmed Planets, Composite Planet Data, and Extended Planet Data interactive tables are also updated with new planetary and stellar data.
We've taken another step toward providing a more integrated user experience with a major update to our services this week! We've released a newer, beta version of the Planetary Systems table AND an alpha version of a new companion table—the Planetary Systems Composite Parameters Table. Both tables are connected to an updated version of the TAP service. These new tables are closely integrated with each other and are intended to replace the older and more familiar Confirmed Planets, Extended Planet Data and Composite Planet Parameters Tables.
You can access both tables from Work With Data panel on our home page, or from the Data drop-down menu in the website navigation bar.
The following document explains this week's changes, as well as what to expect for the rest of the year: Developing a More Integrated NASA Exoplanet Archive.
Here's a brief summary of what's new today:
The new Planetary Systems Composite Parameters Table (PSCP) is similar to our existing Composite Parameters Table: it's a more complete table of planet parameters combined from multiple references and calculations. This new table is built from the Planetary Systems Table and is thus more extensive and more complete. The PSCP will eventually replace the Composite Parameters Table, which is scheduled to be retired in late 2020/early 2021.
Last December, the archive introduced the Planetary Systems Table (PS) as an alpha release. Based on extensive user feedback and testing, we've updated the service so it has expanded and updated data content, including Gaia IDs, improved stellar multiplicity reporting, and improved detection flag reporting, as well as various bug fixes.
The following graphics illustrate what is changing, as well as a comparison of the PS and PSCP tables:
Which tables to use: (Click to enlarge)
|
Comparing the Planetary Systems and Planetary Systems Composite Parameters tables: (Click to enlarge) |
As always, we want to hear your feedback on what is working and what can be improved. Please send us your feedback through the Helpdesk, follow the archive on social media, or subscribe to our email list to stay informed. See our Connect page for links.
Among the 14 new planets added this week is TYC 8998-760-1 c, which is the second exoplanet found by direct imaging in a system that has a star similar to our own Sun. Read the discovery paper and the NASA Discovery Alert.
The other 13 new planets—11 of which are NASA TESS discoveries—are HD 95338 b, BD-11 4672 c, HIP 67522 b, HD 191939 b, c, & d, TOI-700 b, c, & d, TOI-1899 b, HIP 65 A b, TOI-157 b, and TOI-169 b. These discoveries bring our total exoplanet count to 4,197.
We've also added new parameter sets for HD 106906 b and bet Pic b in the Direct Imaging Table.
Find all planetary and stellar data in the Confirmed Planets, Composite Planet Data, and Extended Planet Data interactive tables. Also, the alpha release of our Planetary Systems Table allows you to browse ALL the planet and host star solutions.
We've added 12 new planets, including two super-Earths discovered around GJ 887, and TOI-849 b, a gas giant missing its atmosphere, which allowed researchers to observe its solid core. The nine other planets are: GJ 338 B b, Kepler-160 d, WASP-148 b & c, TOI-1728 b, NGTS-11 b, OGLE-2017-BLG-0406L b, Wendelstein-1 b, and Wendelstein-2 b. In addition, PDS 70 b & c have new planet parameter sets.
The following planets have additional parameter sets in the Direct Imaging Table: HIP 78530 b, HD 95086 b, and HR 8799 b, c, d, & e.
Find all planetary and stellar data in the Confirmed Planets, Composite Planet Data, and Extended Planet Data interactive tables. Also, the alpha release of our Planetary Systems Table allows you to browse ALL the planet and host star solutions.
News panel image credit: University of Warwick/Mark Garlick
First AU Microscopii Confirmed Planet Added
The nearby AU Microscopii system, long suspected to host planets because of its young age and surrounding debris disk, has had its first planet confirmed based on data from NASA's TESS and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Read the discovery paper by Plavchan et al. and the media advisory, and view our new System Overview page. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has also posted a YouTube video illustrating how the planet was detected.
NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program has also commemorated this exciting news by adding an AU Mic b poster to the Galaxy of Horrors series. Given the Neptune-sized exoplanet is regularly subjected to X-ray blasts from eruptive and powerful stellar flares, AU Mic b is likely not habitable—at least by life as we know it.
Fun Fact: This discovery was led Dr. Peter Plavchan, who was a staff scientist at the NASA Exoplanet Archive in its early years. Congratulations, Peter!
New Microlensing and Directly Imaged Planet Data
There are also six additional new planets this week, all detected by microlensing: OGLE-2018-BLG-0677L b, OGLE-2015-BLG-1771L b, OGLE-2018-BLG-1700L b, KMT-2018-BLG-0029L b, KMT-2018-BLG-1292L b, and OGLE-2012-BLG-0838L b. Their solutions have been added to the Microlensing Table.
Also, the following planets have additional parameter sets in the Direct Imaging Table: PDS 70 b, GSC 06214-00210 b, HIP 78530 b, 1RXS J160929.1-210524 b, Oph 11 b, and USco CTIO 108 b.
You can find all planetary and stellar data in the Confirmed Planets, Composite Planet Data, and Extended Planet Data interactive tables. Also, the alpha release of our Planetary Systems Table allows you to browse ALL the planet and host star solutions.
We have six new planets this week, including four TESS planets—one of which is the the telescope's first circumbinary planet. There is also a new Kepler planet.
The new planets are: Kepler-88 d, LTT 3780 b & c (TESS), TOI-1235 b (TESS), TOI-1338 b (first TESS circumbinary), and HD 81817 b. We've also added new parameter sets for all TRAPPIST-1 planets. View the new planet and stellar parameters in the the Confirmed Planets, Composite Planet Data, and Extended Planet Data interactive tables. Or, check out the alpha release of our Planetary Systems Table to browse ALL the planet and host star solutions.
Also, check out the new emission spectra for WASP-121 b and direct imaging data for ROXs 12 b and ROXs 42 B b.
News panel image credit: David A. Aguilar, Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics
The NASA Exoplanet Archive team's effort to provide a more integrated and streamlined user experience is still underway. Here is a quick update on our progress:
Last December, we announced the alpha release of the Planetary Systems Table, which combines data from the Confirmed Planets and Extended Planet Data tables. This new table is also connected to a new Table Access Protocol (TAP) service.
Based on user feedback during this alpha period, we're planning to roll out an update to the Planetary Systems (PS) Table in the coming weeks. Also, we will soon add a new table, called the Planetary Systems Composite Parameters Table (PSCP). The older Confirmed Planets, Extended Planet Parameters, and Composite Parameters tables will continue to be maintained for the coming months—with the aim of decomissioning these tables near the end of the calendar year.
The PSCP Table's purpose is similar to our existing Composite Parameters Table: it's a more complete table of planet parameters combined from multiple references and calculations. The new Planetary Systems Composite Table will be built from the new Planetary Systems Table. Data from both the PS and PSCP tables will be available through our TAP service.
More details will be released in the coming weeks. In the meantime, you are welcome to contact us through social media or our Helpdesk ticketing system.
We've added four confirmed planets and new emission and transmission spectra for WASP-76 b. The new planets are: HD 164922 d, WASP-150 b, WASP-176 b, and HD 332231 b.
Also, data for the following planets have been added to the Direct Imaging Table: 1RXS J160929.1-210524 b, GSC 06214-00210 b, PDS 70 b, and GQ Lup b.
The 236th American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting, to be held June 1–3, is completely online this year. NASA Exoplanet Archive staff will be on hand in two virtual booths for webinars, demos, and Q&A. Come visit us! We'll be part of the IPAC Archives and NExScI booths in Exhibit Hall. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for timely updates.
This week's update includes three new planets: KOI-1783.01, KOI-1783.02 and TOI-677 b. We've also added data for three directly imaged planets, kap And b, GSC 06214-00210 b, and 1RXS J160929.1-210524 b, to our new Direct Imaging Table.
See the new data in the new planets' respective overview page, or browse the Confirmed Planets, Composite Planet Data, and Extended Planet Data interactive tables. Or, check out the alpha release of our Planetary Systems Table to browse ALL the planet and host star solutions.
Also, there are new transmission spectra for KELT-9 b, WASP-121 b, WASP-33 b, and HD 189733 b—all of which can be found in the Transmission Spectroscopy Table.
Lastly, we've removed Fomalhaut b from the archive based on Gaspar & Rieke (2020), who showed the observed source was more consistent with an expanding dust cloud around Fomalhaut rather than an orbiting planet.
We've added the published data for Kepler-1649 c, an exoplanet similar to Earth in size and estimated temperature that was resurrected from the bin of false positives in the Kepler sample. The Kepler data keep on giving, long after the mission's end!
View the system's Overview page or read the media release.
Seven New Planets
Data from the decommissioned Convection, Rotation and planetary Transits (CoRoT) telescope revealed two new systems: CoRoT-30 b and CoRoT-31 b. We've also added a five-planet system, HD 158259, that was detected and confirmed with SOPHIE and TESS data.
View the NEW overview pages for HD 158259 b, c, d, e, & f, CoRoT-30 b. and CoRoT-31 b, or use the Confirmed Planets, Composite Planet Data, and Extended Planet Data interactive tables. The alpha release of our Planetary Systems Table allows you to browse ALL the planet and host star solutions.
Fun Fact: The NASA Exoplanet Archive partnered with the CoRoT mission to serve the stellar and light curve data from the astero-seismology and exoplanet channels. More information about our CoRoT holdings, as well as links to the data, are provided on our CoRoT summary page.
Direct Imaging Data
We've also added more parameter sets for 51 Eri b, TYC 8998-760-1 b, and 2MASS J01225093-2439505 b to our newest table, the Direct Imaging Table.
This week, we added three confirmed planets, including two TESS planets and one discovered by direct imaging. These bring our total confirmed planet count to 4,144. The new planets are TYC 8998-760-1 b and TOI-1130 b and c.
We've also added new WASP-79 b transmission spectra, viewable in the Transmission Spectroscopy Table, and 16 solutions for three planets to the Microlensing Table.
This week's update includes data for six new planets, including the first-ever planet in the Galactic thick disk, discovered by TESS, and transmission spectroscopy for three known planets. The new planets are: OGLE-2013-BLG-0911L b, KMT-2016-BLG-1836L b, OGLE-2016-BLG-1227L b, NGTS-10 b, MASCARA-4 b, and LHS 1815 b (TESS discovery).
To view the new planet and stellar parameters, use the Confirmed Planets, Composite Planet Data, and Extended Planet Data interactive tables. Or, check out the alpha release of our Planetary Systems Table to browse ALL the planet and host star solutions.
The new transmission spectroscopy data are for K2-18 b, KELT-9 b, and HAT-P-41 b, all of which are are browsable in the Transmission Spectroscopy interactive table.
It's official: all Kepler/K2 user support has been transitioned to the NASA Exoplanet Archive (at NExScI) and the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST). See the Kepler/K2 User Support page for details.
Also, as a reminder, the Kepler Data Products Overview page provides an exhaustive list of Kepler data products and documentation.
There are nine new planets in the archive this week, including the new circumbinary system Kepler-1661—a reminder that archival Kepler data continues to yield discoveries. There is also a new TESS planet, TOI-132 b.
The new planets are: Kepler-1661 b, TOI-132 b, GJ 1061 b, c, & d, HATS-47 b, HATS-48 A b, HATS-49 b, and HATS-72 b.
To view the new planet and stellar data, use the Confirmed Planets, Composite Planet Data, and Extended Planet Data interactive tables. Or, check out the alpha release of our Planetary Systems Table to browse ALL the planet and host star solutions.
We have a few exciting updates to announce this week!
We've added 10 confirmed planets: five discovered by the transit method, and five discovered using the radial velocity method. This brings our total confirmed planet count to 4,126.
The new planets are: GJ 180 d, GJ 229 A c, GJ 433 d, GJ 3082 b, GJ 1252 b, EPIC 249893012 b, c, & d, L 168-9 b, and TOI-125 d.
To view the new planet and stellar data, use the Confirmed Planets, Composite Planet Data, and Extended Planet Data interactive tables. Or, check out the new alpha release of our Planetary Systems Table to browse ALL the planet and host star solutions.
We're pleased to announce a NEW Direct Imaging Table! This interactive table focuses on observational and model parameters specific to directly imaged confirmed planets. Additional parameters sets will be added over the next few months.
The columns available in this table are listed and defined in the documentation. For more information about the detection technique and resources available in the Exoplanet Archive, see the Directly Imaged Planet Resources page.
To compare and review imaged planets against other confirmed planets, please use the Confirmed Planets, Composite Planet Data, or Planetary Systems interactive tables.
Our Transit and Ephemeris Service has been updated to include the TESS Objects of Interest (TOIs) list, which are objects stored in the TESS Project Candidates Table that includes previously known planets, TESS confirmed planets, planet candidates, and false positives. Selecting the TESS Objects of Interest checkbox in the service's web form will include all of these in the ephemeris calculations, drawing input parameters directly from the TESS Project Candidate Table.
Fun Fact: The ExoFOP-TESS site reached 50,000 file uploads this week!
Eight new planets!
This week we have eight new planets, including a TESS planet, a K2 planet, and a four-planet system found by the Dispersed Matter Planet Project! The new planets are: DMPP-1 b, c, d & e, DMPP-2b, DMPP-3 A b, HD 80653 b, and TOI-813 b. (If you prefer the old overview interface, you can access them through the Explore the Archive search box on the home page.) This week's additions bring the total confirmed planet count to 4,116.
To view the new planet and stellar data, use the Confirmed Planets, Composite Planet Data, and Extended Planet Data interactive tables. Or, check out the new alpha release of our Planetary Systems Table to browse ALL the planet and host star solutions.
New Planets for The New Year
We're starting 2020 with FOUR new planets in our NEW overviews alpha release! Check out G 9-40 b, XO-7 b, USco1621 b, and USco1556 b. (If you prefer the old overview interface, you can access them through the Explore the Archive search box on the home page.) This week's additions bring the total confirmed planet count to 4,108.
To view the new planet and stellar data, use the Confirmed Planets, Composite Planet Data, and Extended Planet Data interactive tables. Or, check out the new alpha release of our Planetary Systems Table to browse ALL the planet and host star solutions.