Distance is the one exoplanet number that needs no explanation. This walk starts at the closest planet to Earth outside the solar system and works outward, a few light-years at a time. Every star here is a naked-eye or small-telescope object — you can point at where these planets are tonight, and each planet page will show you where in the sky to look.
How picked
Picked automatically from the current data: sorted by distance from Earth, closest first, one per star system. The solar system's own planets are excluded — they are on the 'Start here' tour.
Arrow keys ← → step through the tour; on a phone, swipe sideways.
PHASE —
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4.2 ly
Proxima Centauri b
Proxima Centauri · 2,900 K · M5.5 VModelled
The closest known planet outside the solar system: 4.2 light-years, in Centaurus, orbiting Proxima Centauri. Its modelled colour: its 2,900 K red-dwarf sun puts out almost nothing except red and infrared light, so the colour owes more to the star than to the planet; underneath that, a bare rocky surface hands its star's light back with barely any change.
⚠ ABOUT THIS SWATCHThis colour falls outside the range a screen can display — the swatch is the closest your screen can get.
6.0 light-years away, in Ophiuchus. It orbits Barnard's star; a bare rocky surface hands its star's light back with barely any change, and its 3,195 K red-dwarf sun tilts the whole colour warmer.
10.7 light-years away, in Piscis Austrinus. It orbits GJ 887; bright water clouds scatter most of the starlight straight back, and its 3,688 K red-dwarf sun tilts the whole colour warmer.
⚠ ABOUT THIS SWATCHThis colour falls outside the range a screen can display — the swatch is the closest your screen can get.
11.0 light-years away, in Virgo. It orbits Ross 128; a bare rocky surface hands its star's light back with barely any change, and its 3,192 K red-dwarf sun tilts the whole colour warmer.
11.5 light-years away, in Draco. It orbits Gl 725 A; a bare rocky surface hands its star's light back with barely any change, and its 3,433 K red-dwarf sun tilts the whole colour warmer.
11.6 light-years away, in Andromeda. It orbits GJ 15 A; methane in its cold air absorbs the red end of the spectrum, leaving blue-green, and its 3,607 K red-dwarf sun tilts the whole colour warmer.
12.0 light-years away, in Horologium. It orbits GJ 1061; its 2,953 K red-dwarf sun puts out almost nothing except red and infrared light, so the colour owes more to the star than to the planet; underneath that, a bare rocky surface hands its star's light back with barely any change.
⚠ ABOUT THIS SWATCHThis colour falls outside the range a screen can display — the swatch is the closest your screen can get.
HOW THESE 10 WERE PICKED
Picked automatically from the current data: sorted by distance from Earth, closest first, one per star system. The solar system's own planets are excluded — they are on the 'Start here' tour.