Exoplanets

Age range 9 to 12

You know all about the planets near Earth, but what about the planets outside our solar system? How are they discovered? Could there be life? Find out in Exoplanets!

NASA has confirmed the existence of over 5,000 exoplanets (planets that lie outside of our solar system), and that number is growing! Exoplanets, the first book of its kind for kids, is a visually packed guidebook to the exoplanets of our universe. You'll learn the four main types of exoplanets, techniques scientists use to discover them, the probability of finding life as we know it beyond Earth, plus detailed information about dozens of some of the most fascinating exoplanets discovered so far, from water worlds to planets that are literally evaporating! It's a thrilling journey, and it all begins in Exoplanets!

From NASA.gov:

The 5,000-plus planets found so far include small, rocky worlds like Earth, gas giants many times larger than Jupiter, and "hot Jupiters" in scorchingly close orbits around their stars. There are "super-Earths," which are possible rocky worlds bigger than our own, and "mini-Neptunes," smaller versions of our system's Neptune. Add to the mix planets orbiting two stars at once and planets stubbornly orbiting the collapsed remnants of dead stars.

"It's not just a number," said Jessie Christiansen, science lead for the archive and a research scientist with the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute at Caltech in Pasadena. "Each one of them is a new world, a brand-new planet. I get excited about every one because we don't know anything about them."