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Glossary term: Exoplaneta

Description: Um exoplaneta, ou planeta extrassolar, é um planeta localizado fora do Sistema Solar. Sua existência foi teorizada desde o século XVI e a pesquisa observacional para encontrá-los foi iniciada no século XIX. Os primeiros exoplanetas confirmados foram descobertos na década de 1990. Desses, o primeiro confirmado a orbitar em torno de uma estrela na sequência principal foi o exoplaneta Dimidium, descoberto indiretamente no Observatório de Haute-Provence. Esse exoplaneta está orbitando a estrela 51 Pegasi, uma subgigante amarela, e foi descoberto em 1995. Desde então, milhares de exoplanetas foram identificados.

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Term and definition status: The original definition of this term in English have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher
The translation of this term and its definition is still awaiting approval

The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".

Related Media


The planet beta Pictoris b is a bright dot close to its parent star. Around this we see a warm disk edge-on

beta Pictoris b

Caption: This composite of two images shows the planet beta Pictoris b and a disk of material both of which orbit the young star beta Pictoris. Both are taken in infrared light. The inner image was one of the first pictures taken of a planet around another star (an exoplanet). This image was made using a technique called adaptive optics which removes the blurring effect of the Earth's atmosphere that spreads out a star's light. The star's light is then concentrated tightly enough that it can be hidden behind a blocking circle (shown here in black) called a coronagraph. The ripples around this are artifacts of the imaging process. Beta Pictoris b, a gas giant planet about twelve times the mass of Jupiter, appears as a dot above and to the left of the black circle. The outer image shows the thermal emission from the warm disk of material surrounding the young star beta Pictoris. As we are viewing this disk edge-on it appears as a line. This disk of gas and dust provided the material to form beta Pictoris b.
Credit: ESO/A.-M. Lagrange et al. credit link

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons


beta Pictoris b moves from bottom right towards the center of the image, reappearing 22 months later on the top left

The orbit of beta Pictoris b

Caption: This series of images shows the orbital motion of the extrasolar planet (exoplanet) beta Pictoris b. The planet is the bright dot in each image. The planet's host star is hidden behind the black circle in the middle of each image. This is done to remove the much brighter host star which would otherwise drown out the light from the planet. The planet's orbit is viewed edge-on. Seeing the orbit from this perspective makes it look like the planet moves along a straight line. Between February 2015 and November 2016 beta Pictoris b appears to move closer and closer to its host star. The planet then moved so close to the star that it was not seen for almost two years, after which it reappeared on the other side of the star.
Credit: ESO/Lagrange/SPHERE consortium credit link

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons

Related Activities


Can you find the exoplanet?

Can you find the exoplanet?

 astroEDU educational activity (links to astroEDU website)
Description: Find the exoplanet and determine its size using data from the Spitzer Space Telescope!

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons

Age Ranges: 14-16 , 16-19
Education Level: Secondary
Areas of Learning: Guided-discovery learning , Modelling , Observation based , Problem-solving , Social Research , Technology-based
Costs: Free
Duration: 3 hours
Skills: Analysing and interpreting data , Asking questions , Using mathematics and computational thinking

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are funded by the Shaw Prize Foundation.