exoplanet

1. (astronomy, planetology) A planet which exists outside Earth's solar system.Examples: "More such announcements will likely come in the months to follow, as the first space observatory dedicated to hunting exoplanets, called COROT, begins full operation and researchers complete their calculations."; "In the past two years, NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has located nearly 3,000 exoplanet candidates ranging from sub-Earth-sized minions to gas giants that dwarf our own Jupiter. Their densities range from that of styrofoam to iron."; "In a first for astronomers studying worlds beyond our solar system, data from the Hubble Space Telescope have revealed water vapor in the atmosphere of an Earth-size planet. Although this exoplanet orbits a star that is smaller than our sun, it falls within what’s known as the star’s habitable zone, the range of orbital distances where it would be warm enough for liquid water to exist on a planet’s surface."Synonyms: exosolar planet, extrasolar planet