The Weirdest Worlds Hubble Has Seen

Over 6,000 worlds and counting! NASA recently reached an incredible milestone in the search for planets beyond our solar system: more than six thousand confirmed exoplanets. From blazing hot Jupiters to mysterious super-Earths and puffy gas giants, each new discovery expands our view of the galaxy and deepens our oldest questions.

When the Hubble Space Telescope launched in 1990, not a single exoplanet was known. Yet Hubble’s precision and ultraviolet vision helped pioneer this field, revealing the atmospheres of distant worlds, tracing escaping gases, and uncovering exotic planets unlike anything in our solar system. Its studies have shown planets that are football-shaped, evaporating into space, or as dark as fresh asphalt, each one a testament to nature’s imagination.

Today, Hubble continues to team up with NASA’s new generation of observatories like Webb, TESS, and the upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to explore these alien worlds in ever greater detail. Together, they’re unraveling what these planets are made of, how they evolve, and whether some might harbor life. As we celebrate 6,000 confirmed exoplanets, we look ahead to the next 6,000 and to the discoveries still waiting beyond our cosmic horizon.

For more information, visit science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Paul Morris: Lead Producer

Video Credits:
Artist’s Impression of WASP-121b
NASA, ESA, and J. Olmsted (STScI)

Music Credit:
"Winds" by Frederik Helmut Wiedmann [GMR] via Thousand Notes Music [GMR] and Universal Production Music