(noun. /ECKS-OH-plan-it/)
by Mikayla Feldbauer
What does it mean?
An exoplanet is a planet that exists outside of our solar system. Many of these planets orbit around a star that is not our sun. However, some planets, known as rogue or free-floating planets, do not orbit a star. NASA has a searchable directory of all currently known exoplanets. They also have an “Exoplanet Travel Bureau” featuring really cool posters of exoplanets and the telescopes that found them.
How do I use it in a sentence?
“The Kepler space telescope was deployed by NASA to look for planets outside of our solar system. During its mission it found over 2,000 exoplanets. ”
Artist’s rendition of the exoplanets that orbit the red dwarf star TRAPPIST-1. This system consists of seven rocky Earth-sized exoplanets, three of which orbit their star in the habitable zone. Any of these exoplanets could contain liquid water, but this artist rendering illustrates that the ones in the middle are the most likely. Image source: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Etymology
exo: Ancient Greek for “outer” + planet
