Which telescopes have found the most exoplanets?

NASA's Kepler space telescope found 2,787 confirmed exoplanets, more than any other, and 549 more on K2, the second mission it flew after a breakdown in 2013. NASA's TESS, launched in 2018, comes next with 936 as of September 2026. "Multiple Observatories" means several shared the discovery.

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are in the table below.

The value axis starts at zero. Hover, tap or use the arrow keys to read exact values.

Save a simple drawing of this chart for slides, essays or posts, with its question, source, date and a link back to this page. Please keep the credit.

Download image

Key facts

Measure: Confirmed exoplanets found. Written from the data below.

  • Kepler has the highest figure, 2,787, followed by Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) (1,008) and K2 (550).
  • HATNet has the lowest figure, 67, followed by Haute-Provence Observatory (69) and HATSouth (73).
  • The highest is 42 times the lowest.

Source and date

Source
NASA Exoplanet Archive, Planetary Systems Composite Data
License
Public domain (NASA data); this research has made use of the NASA Exoplanet Archive, operated by Caltech under contract with NASA
Data as of
Published

Citation

Chartly. “Which telescopes have found the most exoplanets?” Chart. Data: NASA Exoplanet Archive, Planetary Systems Composite Data, https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/cgi-bin/TblView/nph-tblView?app=ExoTbls&config=PSCompPars (data as of October 14, 2026). https://chart.ly/charts/telescopes-that-found-the-most-exoplanets (accessed October 15, 2026).

Free for your article, blog or class page: paste this code where the chart should go. It shows the interactive chart with its source and a small “Chart by Chartly” credit, and stays up to date when the data changes.

The data

Download data (CSV)

The file has the numbers in this table, with the source, license and date. Please credit the source and Chartly.

Telescope or observatory Confirmed exoplanets found
Kepler 2,787
Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) 1,008
K2 550
Multiple Observatories 355
La Silla Observatory 311
W. M. Keck Observatory 193
KMTNet 147
SuperWASP 122
OGLE 112
HATSouth 73
Haute-Provence Observatory 69
HATNet 67

Get new charts weekly

One email a week with the newest charts and their key numbers. No account needed.