What is the closest exoplanet to Earth?
The closest known exoplanet to Earth is Proxima Cen b, about 4.2 light-years away. Everything about Proxima Cen b →
| # | World | Distance | Discovered |
|---|---|---|---|
| ★ 1 | Proxima Cen b | 4.2 light-years | 2016 |
| 2 | Proxima Cen d | 4.2 light-years | 2025 |
| 3 | Barnard b | 6.0 light-years | 2024 |
| 4 | Barnard c | 6.0 light-years | 2025 |
| 5 | Barnard d | 6.0 light-years | 2025 |
| 6 | Barnard e | 6.0 light-years | 2025 |
| 7 | eps Eri b | 10.4 light-years | 2000 |
| 8 | GJ 887 b | 10.7 light-years | 2020 |
| 9 | GJ 887 c | 10.7 light-years | 2020 |
| 10 | GJ 887 d | 10.7 light-years | 2026 |
| 11 | GJ 887 e | 10.7 light-years | 2026 |
| 12 | Ross 128 b | 11.0 light-years | 2017 |
| 13 | Gl 725 A b | 11.5 light-years | 2025 |
| 14 | GJ 15 A c | 11.6 light-years | 2018 |
| 15 | eps Ind A b | 11.9 light-years | 2019 |
| 16 | GJ 1061 b | 12.0 light-years | 2020 |
| 17 | GJ 1061 c | 12.0 light-years | 2020 |
| 18 | GJ 1061 d | 12.0 light-years | 2020 |
| 19 | YZ Cet b | 12.1 light-years | 2017 |
| 20 | YZ Cet c | 12.1 light-years | 2017 |
| 21 | YZ Cet d | 12.1 light-years | 2017 |
| 22 | Teegarden's Star b | 12.5 light-years | 2019 |
| 23 | Teegarden's Star c | 12.5 light-years | 2019 |
| 24 | Teegarden's Star d | 12.5 light-years | 2024 |
| 25 | Wolf 1061 b | 14.0 light-years | 2015 |
Showing the top 25 of 6,283 that qualify.
Distance here is the host star's parallax distance, one of the most precise measurements in astronomy. Our own solar system's worlds are excluded: they are planets, not exoplanets.
Proxima Centauri is the nearest star to the Sun, which makes this record close to unbeatable: only another world around the same star, or an undiscovered planet adrift between the stars, could ever sit closer. The table below doubles as a tour of the neighborhood: every entry is within about a dozen light-years of home.
What is the closest exoplanet to Earth?
The closest known exoplanet to Earth is Proxima Cen b, about 4.2 light-years away.
How far away is the closest exoplanet?
Proxima Cen b is 4.2 light-years from Earth. Light makes that trip in a little over four years; the fastest spacecraft ever launched would need tens of thousands.
Could we send anything there?
Not a spacecraft as we build them. The serious proposals involve gram-scale probes pushed to a fraction of light speed by ground-based lasers, which would still take decades to arrive and could only send back a few minutes of data as they flew past.
Is the closest exoplanet habitable?
It sits in its star's habitable zone, which means it receives about the right amount of light for liquid water. Whether it has any is unknown: it orbits a red dwarf that flares violently, and nobody knows whether an atmosphere could survive that.
Keep exploring: all records · the nearest worlds to Earth · the nearest systems with planets