query confirmed exoplanet data via the nasa exoplanet archive tap api
domain: exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
Sampled — shipped under file-level sampling, not individually fact-checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Steps
Build an ADQL query of the form 'select <columns> from <table> where <constraints>', targeting a table such as ps (Planetary Systems) or pscomppars.
Call GET https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/TAP/sync?query=<url-encoded ADQL>&format=csv (or json/votable) for a synchronous query, adequate for the archive's table sizes.
Filter using ADQL predicates, e.g. "where upper(soltype) like '%CONF%' and pl_masse between 0.5 and 2.0" to restrict to confirmed planets in a mass range.
For long-running or very large queries, use the TAP async endpoint (job submission/polling) instead of sync.
Alternatively use a TAP-aware client library (PyVO, astroquery's NASA Exoplanet Archive module, TOPCAT) that builds these URLs for you.
Known gotchas
Column and table names are specific to the archive's schema (e.g. pl_masse for planet mass in Earth masses) and differ from the web UI's display labels — check the table's column documentation before writing queries.
The default response format is VOTable; forgetting to set &format=csv/json when you want a simple tabular result is a common source of confusing XML output.
The archive periodically revises table schemas/column sets as new data models are adopted, so pin to a specific table and verify columns still exist rather than assuming permanence.
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