The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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The domain of exoplanets was officially born with the detection of 51 Pegasi b in 1995 by scientists Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz, who won the Nobel prize in 2019 for this discovery. The planet weighing half the mass of Jupiter, orbits its star in a close orbit in just over four days, making it the very first ‘hot Jupiter’. The discovery rocked the astronomical world as its characteristics did not fit into the theory of planetary formation at the time. The planet is tidally locked to its star, so it always shows the same side to its star. In 2017, astronomers discovered the presence of water particles in its atmosphere.