Chapter 1
Worlds of extreme ingredients
Chapter 2
Surviving in extreme cosmic neighborhoods
Chapter 3
Wild weather and molten surfaces
Chapter 4
The detective work of finding weird planets
YOUR GOAL
Master of Weirdest planets in the universe
Ch 4 · The detective work of finding weird planets
artiteacher Exoplanet Discovery
Star light dips, planets found! / Worlds we never knew are all around!
artiteacher By blocking out the blinding light of a host star, powerful telescopes can capture actual pictures of giant planets.
artiteacher Planets pull slightly on their parent stars, causing the stars to wobble back and forth in a measurable way.
BETA
artiteacher Sort extreme planets to discover the universe's most bizarre worlds.
Fun Fact
Starlight blocking: Finding a planet using the transit method is like spotting a tiny mosquito flying across a searchlight miles away.
Glossary
exoplanet (noun)
A planet that orbits a star outside the solar system. In 1992, astronomers detected the first confirmed exoplanets orbiting a pulsar named PSR B1257+12.
A planet that orbits a star outside the solar system. In 1992, astronomers detected the first confirmed exoplanets orbiting a pulsar named PSR B1257+12.
Quiz
What light wavelength is typically used in direct imaging to capture young, glowing planets?
Quiz
Which method measures the Doppler shift in a star's light spectrum caused by a planet's gravitational pull?
Quiz
What tool do astronomers use in direct imaging to block out a star's blinding glare?
Quiz
What technique allows scientists to read the chemical ingredients of a planet's atmosphere by analyzing filtered starlight?
Quiz
What telescope launched in 2009 popularized the transit method by finding thousands of exoplanets?