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(mellow music)

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- [Narrator] If you could put
on a special pair of glasses

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and look up into the night sky,

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you would see something amazing,

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a sky full of exoplanets,

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planets orbiting stars
beyond our own solar system.

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A team of superhero space telescopes,

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in a sense, has done just that.

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Using powerful technology,

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they peered into space,

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discovering thousands
of these distant planets

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and unveiling their secrets.

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The first exoplanet discoveries

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were very down to earth.

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They were made from the ground.

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Pioneering new techniques,

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ground-based telescopes
began capturing evidence

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of giant, scorchingly hot
planets around other stars,

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but to see exoplanets more clearly,

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including small rocky worlds like our own,

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telescopes needed a boost.

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We began launching them into space,

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lifting them above Earth's atmosphere.

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This superhero team of space telescopes,

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Hubble, Chandra, Spitzer, Kepler, and Tess

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were free from all of the noise

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and interference from Earth's atmosphere,

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jittering air molecules,

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scattering light, clouds, and moisture,

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and the curtain parted on a
galaxy crowded with exoplanets

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giant ones, tiny ones, rocky and gaseous,

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deep-frozen, and superheated,

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planets with two or three suns,

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super Earths, mini Neptunes,

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and worlds that were just playing weird,

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like nothing we had ever seen before.

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And now, a new marvel of
technology joins NASA's team,

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the James Webb space telescope.

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Its infrared vision can peer

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into the atmospheres of exoplanets,

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expanding what we know
about distant worlds.

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High on a list of odd
exoplanets to observe

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is a terrifying place where
it might rain glass sideways.

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This exoplanet is called HD 189733b.

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And it's a hot Jupiter,

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a giant gaseous world that hugs it star

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in such a tight orbit that its temperature

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is more than 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit.

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Its winds howl at more
than 5,400 miles per hour.

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HD 189733b has been a favorite target

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of our space telescopes.

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Spitzer measured its
temperature and winds.

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Hubble discovered that the
planet's clouds are deep blue

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due to the raining glass or silicates,

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and Chandra observed its star and x-rays,

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watching the planet's shadow

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as it passed in front of the star,

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a much larger shadow
than previously thought

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because huge amounts of
the planet's atmosphere

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are evaporating into space.

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NASA's next great observatory,

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the James Webb space telescope,

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will also turn it
supervision on HD 189733b.

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Like Spitzer, its seasoned
powerful infrared light,

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but Webb's vision will
penetrate far more deeply

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into this planet's atmosphere
and others than ever before.

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What will it find?

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Put it all together,
and it's a super team,

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extraordinary telescopes,
exceptional vision,