The exoplanet boom

For decades we knew of no planets beyond our own Sun. Then a trickle became a flood. Here is every confirmed world by the year it was found — and the method that found it.

Counts reflect confirmed exoplanets that have a measured distance, drawn live from the NASA Exoplanet Archive. Discovery methods are grouped: "Other" folds in timing variations, astrometry, and a few rarer techniques. A planet is counted in the year its discovery was published.