May 12, 2014 6:30 AM

Gallery: The Art and Science of NASA's Best Exoplanet Illustrations

NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle
01
kepler186f
NASA artists spent a good deal of time figuring out how to make the recently discovered Kepler-186f (a.k.a. "Earth's cousin") look simultaneously like Earth and totally alien. Illustrator: Tim Pyle. Image: [NASA Ames/SETI Institute/JPL-Caltech](http://www.nasa.gov/ames/kepler/nasas-kepler-discovers-first-earth-size-planet-in-the-habitable-zone-of-another-star/#.U20_6q1g4io)
02
kepler16
This dramatic rendering shows Kepler-16b eclipsing in front of its two parent stars. Illustrator: Robert Hurt. *Image: [NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/multimedia/images/Kepler-16_transit-art.html)*

03
kepler20e
Artists have to be particularly imaginative in coming up with view of Kepler-20e, a world covered in active volcanoes whose surface temperature is 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit. Illustrator: Tim Pyle. *Image: [NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/multimedia/images/kepler-20e.html)*
04
kepler22b
Kepler-22b was the first exoplanet discovered that could potentially have liquid water on its surface. Illustrator: Robert Hurt. *Image: [NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/multimedia/images/kepler-22b.html#.U202m61g4iq)*

05
kepler42
The tiny system around KOI-961 contains planets about the size of Mars. Illustrator: Tim Pyle. *Image: [NASA/JPL-Caltech](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/multimedia/images/mini-planetary-system.html)*
NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle
06
kepler62fe
Kepler-62f is a world 40 percent larger than our own that might have liquid water on its surface. Illustrator: Tim Pyle *Image: [NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/multimedia/images/kepler-morningstar.html#.U203161g4ip)*

NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC)
07
This artist's conception illustrates a storm of comets around a star near our own, called Eta Corvi.
Observations from the Spitzer space telescope showed that Eta Corvi, a star near our own, was surrounded by a dusty sphere of comets. Illustrator: Robert Hurt. *Image: [NASA/JPL-Caltech/](http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/4772-ssc2011-08a-It-s-Raining-Comets)*
08
keplercfaharvard
This artist's conception from Harvard shows shows Kepler-34b, a gas-giant orbiting a double-star system. *Image: [David A. Aguilar (CfA)](http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/imagelist/2012-02)*

NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle
09
kepler62
A view of Kepler-62f, a super-Earth in its stars habitable zone. Illustrator: Tim Pyle. *Image: [NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/multimedia/images/kepler-62f.html#.U202461g4ip)*
10
keplercometplanet
The Mercury-scale planet around KIC 12557548 is having its surface scorched to such a degree that a comet-like tail extends out into space. Illustrator: Tim Pyle. *Image: [NASA/JPL-Caltech](http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/features/2012/Kepler_Detects_Potential_Evaporating_Planet_feature.html)*

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