NASA has revealed a stunning new image of the Milky Way, unveiling at least 6,000 exoplanets beyond our solar system, which were captured using its Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) space telescope.
According to NASA, TESS confirmed over 6,000 exoplanets, and astronomers now estimate that there is at least one planet orbiting every star we can see in the night sky. The map combines observations collected since the telescope began operations in 2018 and offers one of the clearest pictures so far of how planets are spread across the galaxy.
The dazzling image of the night sky showed thousands of differently coloured dots. The blue dots in the image mark the locations of nearly 700 confirmed planets, and the orange dots represent more than 5,000 candidate planets that are awaiting verification. The bright band cutting across the image is the Milky Way galaxy.
Where Are These Planets?
These planets, located beyond our Solar System, include everything from enormous gas giants bigger than Jupiter to rocky worlds that may share similarities with Earth. Scientists have confirmed over 6,270 exoplanets using missions like TESS, NASA’s retired Kepler Space Telescope, and other facilities till date.
Researchers assembled an all-sky mosaic made of 96 sectors observed between April 2018, when TESS began its work, and September 2025.
According to NASA, TESS uses its four cameras to scan a wide swath of the sky, called a sector, for about a month at a time. These long stares allow the spacecraft to track the brightness changes of tens of thousands of stars, looking for variations in their light that might come from orbiting planets.
Astronomers say the latest TESS map is significant as it combines years of observations into one comprehensive view of the sky. The map is also expected to aid future missions, including the James Webb Space Telescope and the upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, in identifying promising targets for more detailed exploration.
“Over the last eight years, TESS has become a fire hose of exoplanet science,” said Rebekah Hounsell, a TESS associate project scientist in the United States. “It’s helped us find planets of all different sizes, from tiny Mercury-like ones to those larger than Jupiter.”
The milestone comes 30 years after the first exoplanet was discovered around a star similar to the Sun in 1995. Although researchers think there are billions of planets in the Milky Way galaxy, finding them has proved to be a challenging task.
