Kepler-90

system

Kepler-90 — a Sun-like star about 2,770 light-years away in Draco, and the only known star to match the Solar System's planet count: EIGHT confirmed worlds. A true 'other solar system', with small rocky planets close in and giants further out. Descend to explore all eight.

Open in 3D viewSee Kepler-90 in the live, interactive 3D map

Science

Classification

Type: Planetary system
Distance: ~2,766 light-years · its real distance from the Sun
Explore: Descend to see the star and its confirmed planets

How we know

Note: A real star system, shown at its measured position in the galaxy. Its star and confirmed planets — their measured sizes and how each was found — are on the cards inside; descend to explore them. Distances follow Gaia parallax; planet data follow the NASA Exoplanet Archive.

Discovery & history

Name: A designation from NASA's Kepler mission (also catalogued KOI-351); the star has no proper name.

NASA's Kepler telescope found seven planets here from 2013; an eighth, Kepler-90 i, was uncovered in 2017 when a Google neural network re-analysed the data — making Kepler-90 the first star known to tie the Sun's eight-planet tally. The planets are packed far tighter than ours, all within the Earth-Sun distance.

Images

NASA/JPL diagram comparing the eight planets of Kepler-90 with the Solar System — the only known star to tie the Sun's planet count (a diagram, not a photograph). — NASA/JPL-Caltech (public domain) · Wikimedia Commons

NASA illustration of the Kepler-90 system, released when its record-tying eighth planet was found — an artist's diagram, not a photograph. — NASA/Ames Research Center/Wendy Stenzel (public domain) · Wikimedia Commons

Images from open archives · credit shown per image