ASTRON 2B03 Lecture Notes - Goldilocks Principle, Snowball Earth, Gliese 581
Document Summary
Velocity (doppler) method as a planet orbits around a star, it exerts a gravitational force on that star. Larger planet (or close) , larger change in v. 3rd method directly observing them (above 2 we just see the influence). Vast majority found were massive, and close to parent stars. Observational bias, doesn"t mean all planets are large and live close to their stars. In future, we want to concentrate on finding earth-sized planets: hard to find as a result of its small size. Planets don"t give off light, light comes from reflective light from parent star. Signs of life looking for signatures that we know are important for certain molecules. Not at this stage yet we are still finding them. Closer to star, harder to find the planet. (amidst the noise of the sun). Infrared telescope: planets become almost as bright as stars in the infrared. Disk material is the material from which planets form.