Check out the activities and events below to explore the science and art of planets beyond our solar system!

Our solar system is just one neighborhood in a bigger city, the Milky Way Galaxy. In the last few decades, we have learned that many of the stars in our galaxy have planets orbiting around them. We call these "exoplanets."  

But how do we know what is out there beyond our own solar system? Exoplanets around other stars are very, very small when seen from Earth. Powerful telescopes on Earth and in space are needed to help us learn more about them. Using different methods, scientists are able to make an educated guess about what exoplanets are like, such as if they are rocky or gassy, big or small, or whether they might be a good place for life like ours to survive.

What do you think exoplanets look like? 

No one has ever taken a really nice picture of an exoplanet! 

Exoplanets are so far away that they are too tiny for us to take detailed pictures of, like the images we have of the planets in our solar system. If you ever see a detailed picture of an exoplanet, it was done by an artist making their best guess of what the planet might be like based on the data gathered by researchers. We call this an "artist's impression" or "illustration."
A round planet against a starfield.

Illustration of exoplanet TOI-674 b

Start your exploration now!

Jump to Anytime Activities: Solar System in a Bowl      Exoplanet Dance      Travel Poster

Tools for the Search

Activity: Build a Solar System in an Bowl

Exoplanets orbit around their stars because of gravity, just like the planets in our solar system orbit around the Sun. Gravity works by bending the space around massive objects like stars. This bent space pulls the planets close to the star, and moving fast makes them orbit around it. 

Now you can make your own solar system and see what happens when space is bent by gravity! 

What you'll need:

  • A medium-size container such as a bowl, box, or bin;
  • A stretchy fabric, like a t-shirt, blanket, or towel;
  • String or clips;
  • A small, dense, heavy ball like a baseball, apple, or rock;
  • Smaller balls, such as marbles, beads, or ping pong balls.
A photograph of supplies for an activity including a bowl, a ball that looks like Earth, another ball, a blanket, and a string.

Step 1: Build your "solar system"

Cover the top of the container with some stretchy fabric and secure it with string or clips so it stays flat across the top. This fabric represents space and will be used to show the effects of gravity in your model.

Place the larger ball in the center of the fabric to be the "star" in your model. Notice how the fabric dips under the weight of the star. Real stars do something like this, bending the space around them to create a "gravity well!"
A blanket draped over a bowl, with a ball made to look like Earth perched on top.

Step 2: Set your "planets" in motion

The smaller balls you collected will be the "planets" in your model. They need to be smaller and lighter than whatever you chose as your star. 

Roll one planet ball gently along the edge of the fabric and watch what happens. Your planet is now orbiting your star! The bent fabric-space in your gravity well is changing the planet's path and curving it around the star.
A small ball rotates around a ball made to look like the Earth.

Step 3: Experiment with your planet system!

What happens if you put in two planets? Set them closer or farther from the star? Roll them faster or slower? Orbit them in opposite directions?

These questions are the same ones that scientists are asking when studying exoplanets around other stars!

   

Activity: Create an Exoplanet Dance

Did you know that all planets "dance" around their stars? Everything in space is moving, including exoplanets. They spin on their axis like a twirling dancer, and orbit around their star like people moving around a dance floor. 

Astronomers such as Natalie Batalha use these motions to find and study exoplanets, with the help of telescopes like JWST and TESS. Learning about these motions can tell scientists a lot of information, such as how close or far an exoplanet is from its star and how big or small it is. 

Now you can make your own dance inspired by these far-away worlds!

What you'll need:

  • A "star" that makes light, such as a lantern or lamp;
  • A "telescope" - this can be a cardboard tube, a rolled-up piece of paper, a straw, or something else;
  • You and your family!

Step 1: Create your dance space and set up a "star"

Set your "star" in the middle of your dance space so there is room to move around it. If you are using a lamp, make sure to tape down the cord so you don't trip!
A lamp stands without a shade.

Step 2: Dance your "planets" around your star

Each person will be a "planet" that dances around the star. Think about what movement you want to make as a planet. Here are questions to help you decide:

  • Do you want to spin slowly, like the Earth and other planets rotate, or spin fast?
  • Do you want to make a small orbit around the star, or a bigger orbit farther away?
  • Do you want to show features of your planet, like mountains, clouds, or moon?

Try combining these ideas to make your own unique exoplanet dance!

For some music, try the song Dance of the Planets by The Chromatics.
A person dances around a lamp with the lampshade off and the bulb revealed.

Step 3: Add an astronomer with a "telescope"

Astronomers use telescopes and other tools to search for evidence of exoplanets around stars. Grab your "telescope." Take turns having one person be the astronomer, who stands at the edge of the room and looks through the "telescope" at the "star." 

Here are some things to look for as the astronomer:

  • Is the star's light being blocked when a planet dances by?
  • Do all the planets block the same amount of light?
  • How long does it take each planet to orbit around the star once?

Looking for changes in star light this way is how thousands of real exoplanets have been discovered using the transit method!
A person dancing around a lamp with the lamp shade removed, as seen through the end of a tube.

Activity: Design Your Own Exoplanet Travel Poster

What are other worlds like? NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has artists and designers on staff at the Studio and one of their jobs is to help scientists imagine what other worlds outside our solar system can look like.

Visual strategists like David Delgado have designed travel posters, advertising what it could be like to visit one of these other worlds. They used scientific data that researchers collected about exoplanets to imagine the new environments there and what it would be like to visit.

What would it be like to visit a planet beyond our solar system?

Some exoplanets are very hot or very cold. Some might be covered in oceans, and others may be very dry. Using one of the the real exoplanets below, design your own imagining of what it would be like to travel to that world!
A travel poster that reads "Relax on Kepler-16b, the land of two suns, where your shadow always has company." The image shows a humanoid figure on a rocky surface under two bright orbs.

What you'll need:

  • A piece of paper or virtual drawing program;
  • Drawing or painting tools;
  • Your imagination

  

Step 1: Meet exoplanet Kepler-22b

Exoplanet Kepler-22b is the planet you'll be visiting in your travel poster! 

Here are a few things scientists think about Kepler-22b:

  • This planet is rocky, like Earth
  • It might be covered in a super ocean
  • It might have a nice surface temperature of around 60 degrees F (15.5 C)
  • It is tilted on its side.
A circular planet with cloud like structures evident.

Step 2: Imagine your trip to Kepler-22b

Imagine your trip to the exoplanet. What would it feel like there? Would you need to bring anything? What would do when you got there?

  

Step 3: Design your travel poster

Using all of the information you found on the exoplanet you're visiting and your imagination, design a poster that shows what it would be like to visit! You can include:

  • People visiting the exoplanet
  • Sites to see
  • Any special information about the exoplanet

Show off your designs on social media! Remember to share with us by tagging us @airandspace on Facebook and Twitter and @airandspacemuseum on Instagram. 
A hand drawn travel poster reading "Life's a beach for half the year on Kepler-22b"

Tools for the Search

There are many different tools that researchers use to find worlds beyond our solar system. These space-based telescopes search for planets across our galaxy using different techniques:

Spitzer was the first telescope to directly detect light from an exoplanet.

Spitzer was the first telescope to directly detect light from an exoplanet.

TESS explores almost all of the sky, searching for small planets orbiting bright stars.

TESS explores almost all of the sky, searching for small planets orbiting bright stars.

Kepler found more than 2,600 exoplanets in our galaxy using the transit method.

Kepler found more than 2,600 exoplanets in our galaxy using the transit method.

Hubble Space Telescope helps us study the atmospheres of exoplanets.

Hubble Space Telescope helps us study the atmospheres of exoplanets.

James Webb Space Telescope will study the atmospheres of exoplanets to search for the building blocks of life elsewhere in the universe.

James Webb Space Telescope will study the atmospheres of exoplanets to search for the building blocks of life elsewhere in the universe.
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Header image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech