What is the name of the first planet discovered outside of our solar system?

Greetings, Kass11!

What an interesting question!  I know many planets have been seen
outside of our solar system, but I had never looked up much
information about it.  Anyway, to answer your question, the first
planetary mass found was acutally orbiting a pulsar, and not a proper
star.  It has not been considered a true planet since it does not
orbit a star.

First extra solar planetary mass orbiting a Pulsar:
http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/pspm/arecibo/planets/planets.html

There is a good history of the search for and discovery of extra solar
planets available from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory:
http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/science/science_index.html

And, for the answer:  The first planet orbiting a star like our sun is
named '51 Pegasi b' or '51 Peg b'  and was disovered in 1995, by
Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz at Geneva Observatory.
http://planetquest1.jpl.nasa.gov/atlas/atlas_profile.cfm?Planet=51_Pegasi_b

Another reference:
http://www.obspm.fr/encycl/51Peg.html

Details about the planet from the University of Oregons' Electronic
Universe Project:
http://zebu.uoregon.edu/51peg.html

Search and find details about all extra solar planets at JPL's Planet
Quest:
http://planetquest1.jpl.nasa.gov/atlas/atlas_index.cfm

Another catalog of all planets:
http://www.obspm.fr/encycl/catalog.html

Further reading about planets outside of our solar system:
http://exoplanets.org/

And, a timeline of discoveries of extra solar planets:
http://obswww.unige.ch/~naef/RECAN/announcement.html

I hope this answers your question, if you require further information,
please ask for a clarification before rating this question.  Thank you
for using Google Answers!


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This is all excellent information.  Thank you.