NASA Exoplanet Science Institute

NASA Exoplanet Science Institute (NExScI)
Type of site
Astronomy
Created byOperated for NASA at Caltech
URLhttp://nexsci.caltech.edu/
Current statusActive

The NASA Exoplanet Science Institute (NExScI) is part of the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) and is on the campus of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, CA. NExScI was formerly known as the Michelson Science Center and before that as the Interferometry Science Center. It was renamed NExScI in the Fall of 2008 to reflect NASA's growing interest in the search for planets outside of the Solar System, also known as exoplanets. The executive director of NExScI is Charles A. Beichman.

An artist's concept of a Jupiter-mass planet orbiting the nearby star Epsilon Eridani.

NExScI is the science, operations, and analysis service organization for the NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program and the scientists and engineers that use them. NExScI facilitates the timely and successful execution of exoplanet science by providing software infrastructure, science operations, and consulting to Exoplanet Exploration Program projects and their user communities.

The activities and programs that NExScI oversees and manages are described in more detail in this article.