An ''extrasolar object'' ({{ety, la, extra, outside or beyond, , solaris, of the
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
) is an
astronomical object that exists outside the
Solar System
The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...
. It is not applied to stars, or any other celestial object that is larger than a star or the Solar System, such as a
galaxy. The terms for extrasolar examples of Solar System bodies are:
*
Extrasolar planet
An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...
, also called an "exoplanet"
*
Extrasolar moon, also called an "exomoon"
*
Exocomet
An exocomet, or extrasolar comet, is a comet outside the Solar System, which includes rogue comets and comets that orbit stars other than the Sun. The first exocomets were detected in 1987 around Beta Pictoris, a very young A-type main-sequence ...
, an extrasolar comet
* Extrasolar asteroid, with one identified as of 2013, orbiting
GD 61
Some Solar System object classes, such as
minor planet
According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''mino ...
s,
dwarf planet
A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit of the Sun, smaller than any of the eight classical planets but still a world in its own right. The prototypical dwarf planet is Pluto. The interest of dwarf planets to ...
s and
Trans-Neptunian object
A trans-Neptunian object (TNO), also written transneptunian object, is any minor planet in the Solar System that orbits the Sun at a greater average distance than Neptune, which has a semi-major axis of 30.1 astronomical units (au).
Typically ...
s have not been detected outside the Solar System.
See also
*
Extraterrestrial, referring to objects or phenomena existing within the Solar System, but not on Earth
*
Extragalactic astronomy, the study of objects outside the Milky Way Galaxy
*
Interstellar object
An interstellar object is an astronomical object (such as an asteroid, a comet, or a rogue planet, but not a star) in interstellar space that is not gravitationally bound to a star. This term can also be applied to an object that is on an inter ...
, an object that has traveled through interstellar space, such as
ʻOumuamua
Oumuamua is the first known interstellar object detected passing through the Solar System. Formally designated 1I/2017 U1, it was discovered by Robert Weryk using the Pan-STARRS telescope at Haleakalā Observatory, Hawaii, on 19 October ...
, the first known example
*
Planetary system, a set of gravitationally bound non-stellar objects in orbit around a star or star system
Astronomical nomenclature