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Cumulative number of exoplanets discovered, by method

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Space Exploration & Satellites

About this data

Cumulative number of exoplanets discovered, by method
Cumulative number of planets discovered outside the Solar System, broken down by their first identification method: , , , or other.
Source
NASA (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Last updated
March 4, 2025
Next expected update
March 2026
Date range
1992–2024
Unit
exoplanets

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

This dataset makes use of the NASA Exoplanet Archive, which is operated by the California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under the Exoplanet Exploration Program.

Transit method: If a planet crosses (or transits) in front of its parent star's disk, then the star's observed brightness drops by a small amount. The amount by which the star dims depends on its size and the planet's size, among other factors.

Radial velocity (or Doppler method): As a planet orbits a star, the star also moves in its small orbit around the system's center of mass. Variations in the star's radial velocity—the speed with which it moves towards or away from Earth—can be detected from displacements in the star's spectral lines due to the Doppler effect.

Microlensing: Microlensing occurs when the gravitational field of a star acts like a lens, magnifying the light of a distant background star. Planets orbiting the lensing star can cause detectable anomalies in the magnification as it varies over time.

Details on other methods of discovery are available on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methods_of_detecting_exoplanets

Retrieved on
March 4, 2025
Retrieved from
https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/index.html
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
NASA Exoplanet Archive, operated by the California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under the Exoplanet Exploration Program.

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Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Cumulative number of exoplanets discovered, by method”, part of the following publication: Edouard Mathieu, Pablo Rosado and Max Roser (2022) - “Space Exploration and Satellites”. Data adapted from NASA. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cumulative-exoplanets-by-method [online resource]
How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

NASA (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data

Full citation

NASA (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. “Cumulative number of exoplanets discovered, by method” [dataset]. NASA, “NASA Exoplanet Archive” [original data]. Retrieved March 10, 2025 from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cumulative-exoplanets-by-method