The Top Ten Exoplanets

Some of the exoplanets are rocky, some are gaseous, and some are very, very odd. But there's one thing each one of these strange new worlds has in common: All have advanced scientific understanding of our place in the cosmos.

Here are the top ten exoplanets that the astronomers chose:


1. Kepler-186f
Kepler-186f was the first rocky planet to be found within the habitable zone -- the region around the host star where the temperature is right for liquid water. This planet is also very close in size to Earth. Even though we may not find out what's going on at the surface of this planet anytime soon, it's a strong reminder of why new technologies are being developed that will enable scientists to get a closer look at distant worlds.
Image Credits: NASA Ames/SETI Institute/JPL-Caltech

2. HD 209458 b (nickname "Osiris")
The first planet to be seen in transit (crossing its star) and the first planet to have it light directly detected. The HD 209458 b transit discovery showed that transit observations were feasible and opened up an entire new realm of exoplanet characterization.
Image Credits: NASA, European Space Agency, Alfred Vidal-Madjar (Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS)

3. Kepler-11 system
This was the first compact solar system discovered by Kepler, and it revealed that a system can be tightly packed, with at least five planets within the orbit of Mercury, and still be stable. It touched off a whole new look into planet formation ideas and suggested that multiple small planet systems, like ours, may be common.
Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

4. Kepler-16b
A real-life "Tatooine," this planet was Kepler's first discovery of a planet that orbits two stars -- what is known as a circumbinary planet.
Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

5. 51 Pegasi b
This giant planet, which is about half the mass of Jupiter and orbits its star every four days, was the first confirmed exoplanet around a sun-like star, a discovery that launched a whole new field of exploration.
Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

6. CoRoT 7b
The first super-Earth identified as a rocky exoplanet, this planet proved that worlds like the Earth were indeed possible and that the search for potentially habitable worlds (rocky planets in the habitable zone) might be fruitful.
Image Credits: ESO/L. Calçada

7. Kepler-22b
A planet in the habitable zone and a possible water-world planet unlike any seen in our solar system.
Image Credits: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech

8. Kep