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There are eight planets within the Solar System; planets outside of the solar system are also known as exoplanets. Artist's concept of the potentially habitable exoplanet Kepler-186f As of 6 March 2025, there are 5,849 confirmed exoplanets in 4,367 planetary systems , with 981 systems having more than one planet . [ 1 ]
There is strong consensus among astronomers that five members of the Kuiper belt are dwarf planets. [198] [203] Many dwarf planet candidates are being considered, pending further data for verification. [204] Pluto (29.7–49.3 AU) is the largest known object in the Kuiper belt.
It is not known precisely how many objects in the Solar System are dwarf planets. The nine objects listed in the third column are the ones agreed on by most astronomers, corresponding to a threshold of about 900–1000 km diameter.
The discovery of exoplanets led to another ambiguity in defining a planet: the point at which a planet becomes a star. Many known exoplanets are many times the mass of Jupiter, approaching that of stellar objects known as brown dwarfs.
Thousands of planets outside of our solar system, known as exoplanets, have been found in recent years, but few have existed in conditions that scientists predict could foster life.
This star, known as HD 110067, may have even more planets. The six found so far are roughly two to three times the size of Earth, but with densities closer to the gas giants in our own solar system.
Of the Solar System's eight planets and its nine most likely dwarf planets, six planets and seven dwarf planets are known to be orbited by at least 300 natural satellites, or moons. At least 19 of them are large enough to be gravitationally rounded; of these, all are covered by a crust of ice except for Earth's Moon and Jupiter's Io. [1]
Four planets — Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars — are bright enough to see with the naked eye this month. Uranus and Neptune are visible with a telescope. Uranus and Neptune are visible with a ...