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97 of 6,445 exoplanets were discovered by direct imaging

Direct imaging accounts for 1.5% of confirmed planets in the 12 October 2026 snapshot. Transit discoveries dominate at 74.2%.

Confirmed exoplanets in the NASA Exoplanet Archive snapshot; recorded discovery years 1992–2026.Data snapshot: 2026-10-12

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Snapshot

Dot matrix of 6,445 confirmed exoplanets by discovery method: transit 4,781, stellar wobble 1,203, microlensing 292, other methods 72 and direct imaging 97. Direct imaging is 1.5% of the snapshot.
Dot matrix of 6,445 confirmed exoplanets by discovery method: transit 4,781, stellar wobble 1,203, microlensing 292, other methods 72 and direct imaging 97. Direct imaging is 1.5% of the snapshot. Permanent insight link. Original chart.

What the chart shows

Direct imaging accounts for 1.5% of confirmed planets in the 12 October 2026 snapshot. Transit discoveries dominate at 74.2%.

Confirmed exoplanets in the NASA Exoplanet Archive snapshot; recorded discovery years 1992–2026.

How it was made

Select default confirmed-planet records from the archive. Count discovery methods, relabel Radial Velocity as Stellar wobble and Imaging as Direct imaging, and combine seven smaller methods into Other methods. Divide each count by 6,445.

Read the complete source & method notes

Definitions & limits

  • The chart describes discovery method, not whether a planet was imaged subsequently.
  • This is a fixed 12 October 2026 snapshot, not a live count of confirmed planets.
  • Retain the NASA Exoplanet Archive acknowledgement and citation guidance when reusing the extract; no blanket CC0 licence is assigned to archive holdings.

Original sources

Snapshot date: 2026-10-12. Source releases and observations can be revised; the linked download notes describe this fixed version.

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