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When to Use the Exoplanet Direct Imaging 3D Explorer

Last reviewed: 2026-08-03

Open the Exoplanet Direct Imaging 3D Explorer when you want to see the first system ever confirmed by photographing exoplanets directly, with each of the four HR 8799 planets' own published mass, separation, and discovery year.

Sessions this explorer fits

Students learning that a telescope can photograph a planet's own light directly rather than only inferring it from a dip or a wobble, teachers walking through the 2008 and 2010 HR 8799 discovery announcements with real dates attached, and readers comparing the four detection methods side by side all get a direct answer here.

Sessions this explorer does not fit

Sessions this page does not fit are studying the brightness-dip transit method, which is on the Exoplanet Transit 3D Explorer; studying the stellar-wobble method, which is on the Doppler Radial Velocity 3D Explorer; or a shape-accurate rendering of any specific telescope or coronagraph design, since the star, mask sprite, and planets here are procedural teaching shapes, not an instrument model. Walk through the controls in the step-by-step guide.

← Back to Space 3D

Last updated: Aug 3, 2026

Reviewed by the Free Tool Online editorial team · Tested in the current versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge before publishing. No account is needed to use any tool. Report a bug - we triage within 72 hours. · Last refreshed April 2026.

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