NASA has crossed a major milestone in the search for alien worlds. The space agency has now confirmed the existence of 6,000 exoplanets, planets orbiting stars beyond our solar system, in just three decades of exploration.
But despite the achievement, scientists say the most important discovery still lies ahead: a planet that mirrors our own.
A Rapidly Growing Catalogue
The first confirmed exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star, 51 Pegasi b, was discovered in 1995. Since then, the pace of discovery has accelerated. Just three years ago, the tally stood at 5,000. Today, it’s leapt past 6,000, with thousands more candidates waiting for verification.
“Confirmed planets are added to the count on a rolling basis by scientists from around the world, so no single planet is considered the 6,000th entry,” NASA explained. As of now, the official total sits at 6,007 worlds.
A newly featured addition is the heftily named KMT-2023-BLG-1896L b, a Neptune-like world about 16.35 times the mass of Earth.
What Kinds of Worlds Have Been Found?
The exoplanet catalogue is filled with an astonishing variety of worlds. NASA’s breakdown includes:
- 2,035 Neptune-like planets – with thick atmospheres of hydrogen and helium.
- 1,984 gas giants – massive planets similar to Jupiter.
- 1,761 super-Earths – larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune.
- 700 rocky worlds – terrestrial planets like Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
- Seven worlds of unknown type – strange outliers that don’t fit the usual categories.
Some of these planets are extreme in ways that stretch the imagination: lava-covered surfaces, diamond compositions, or atmospheres that can regenerate themselves.
“Each of the different types of planets we discover gives us information about the conditions under which planets can form and, ultimately, how common planets like Earth might be, and where we should be looking for them,” said Dawn Gelino, head of NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “If we want to find out if we’re alone in the universe, all of this knowledge is essential.”
The Next Great Chapter
NASA highlighted the significance of the milestone with a video celebrating the diversity of alien worlds found so far.
“We’re entering the next great chapter of exploration — worlds beyond our imagination,” the narrator said. “To look for planets that could support life, to find our cosmic neighbors and to remind us the universe still holds worlds waiting to be found.”
Yet, despite thousands of discoveries, one elusive world remains missing. As the video pointed out: “There’s one we haven’t found — a planet just like ours. At least, not yet.”
