History of Exoplanet Discovery and Missions

The search for exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system, has been a topic of interest for astronomers for centuries. However, it wasn't until the late 20th century that technological advancements allowed scientists to start detecting and confirming the existence of exoplanets. Here's a brief history of exoplanet discovery and missions:

Timeline of Exoplanet Satellite Missions

1992: Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail discover the first confirmed exoplanet using radio waves and inconsistencies in the pulsations of a pulsar.
1995: Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz discover 51 Pegasi b, the first exoplanet discovered using the radial velocity method, orbiting a sun-like star.
2000: The first exoplanet transit is detected by astronomers at Keele University using the SuperWASP observatory.
2006: The first exoplanet detected using the transit method and confirmed using radial velocity measurements is announced by the CORALIE team.
2009: NASA's Kepler mission is launched, discovering thousands of exoplanets using the transit method.
2013: The European Space Agency's (ESA) Gaia spacecraft is launched, providing precise measurements of the masses and distances of many nearby exoplanets.
2018: NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is launched, discovering exoplanets using the transit method.
2019: The European Space Agency's (ESA) Characterizing Exoplanet Satellite (Cheops) is launched, focusing on characterizing exoplanets already discovered by other missions.
2022: The James Webb Space Telescope, a collaboration between NASA, ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency, launches, with the goal of studying the atmospheres of exoplanets.

In addition to these satellite missions, ground-based observatories such as the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) have also been successful in discovering exoplanets using the radial velocity method. (Run by Allyson Bieryla)

This image below includes all exoplanet telescopes and satellites both in existence and planned.

Helpful Video from NASA illustrating exoplanet discovery progress

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