Mapping Planets

Mapping Exoplanets



Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)

Wonder how you map so distant bodies? Click on images above and get a how-to video or two. :-)





This is the first-ever map of the surface of an exoplanet, or a planet beyond our solar system. The map, which shows temperature variations across the cloudy tops of a gas giant called HD 189733b, is made up of infrared data taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Hotter temperatures are represented in brighter colors.