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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A convincing way of detecting new exoplanets is directly imaging them. The first planet to have shown its face to us is 2M1207b. This planet has 5 times the mass of Jupiter and orbits a brown dwarf at about 55 times the distance from Earth to the Sun. A large planet moving around its star in a big orbit is the ideal candidate to image directly. The system was imaged by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in 2004. Multiple planets have since been imaged by other telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope.