How do astronomers find planets around distant stars? If you look at a star through binoculars or a telescope, you’ll quickly notice how bright the star is, and how difficult it is to see anything other than the star, especially a small planet that doesn’t generate any light of its own!


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Astronomers look for a shift, or wobble, of the star as it gets gravitationally ‘yanked’ around by the orbiting planets. By measuring this wobble, astronomers can estimate the size and distance of larger orbiting objects.


Here’s how you can show this effect to other folks:



 
Download Student Worksheet & Exercises


Exercises


  1. For homework tonight, find out how many extrasolar planets scientists have detected so far.
  2. Also for homework, find out the names (they will probably be a string of numbers and letters together) of the 3 most recent extrasolar planet discoveries.

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Comments

One Response to “How to Find New Planets around Distant Stars”

  1. Lillian Jackson says:

    So simple but it can so easily answer questions