NASA confirms the discovery of 6000 exoplanets: what it means for science.

According to Korrespondent.net: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has officially confirmed the discovery of 6000 exoplanets. This announcement appeared in Live Science on Saturday, September 27.

History of exoplanet discovery

The era of exoplanets began in 1992 when astronomers discovered the first exoplanets near a pulsar. In 1995, scientists first detected an exoplanet orbiting a main-sequence star. Thanks to the Kepler and TESS missions, NASA has been able to rapidly increase the number of confirmed exoplanets.

New achievements of NASA

As of now, NASA has confirmed 6000 exoplanets, while in March 2022, the number stood at 5000. This is still a small fraction compared to the approximately 100 billion exoplanets that may exist in the Milky Way.

“Each of the different types of planets we discover gives us information about the conditions under which planets may form and, ultimately, how common Earth-like planets may be and where we should look for them. If we want to know if we are alone in the universe, all this knowledge is incredibly important,” said Don Helin, head of NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program (ExEP) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

Future missions

According to TESS mission data, as of July 2025, there are 7655 candidates for exoplanets, of which over 600 have already been confirmed. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, scheduled for launch in 2027, aims to detect thousands more exoplanets through microlensing. The European Space Telescope PLATO, to be launched in 2026, will enable the discovery of more rocky exoplanets around stars similar to our Sun. Other projects, such as CHEOPS and ARIEL, will focus on the detailed study of already known exoplanets.

China's involvement in exoplanets

China is also actively implementing its technological advancements in the study of exoplanets: the country is preparing to launch the Earth 2.0 (ET) space telescope in 2028, which will focus on searching for Earth-sized exoplanets.

Other astronomical discoveries

Previously, astronomers captured for the first time the moment of planet formation in a system about 1300 light-years away from Earth around a young star HOPS-315. It was also found that Uranus's temperature is higher than previously thought; this planet has internal heat and emits more than it receives from the Sun.

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Overall, NASA's achievements reflect the active development of space research and increasing our understanding of the universe. The appearance of new equipment and missions opens new horizons for studying not only exoplanets but also other astronomical phenomena. Collaborative efforts of countries in this field may lead to even greater success in the search for new worlds.