AST101H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Methods Of Detecting Exoplanets, Astronomical Object, Light Curve

• School: UTSG
• Department: Astronomy & Astrophysics
• Course: AST101H1
• Professor: Michael Reid

Document Summary

Extrasolar planet, often referred to as exoplanets planets that orbit a star other than the sun. The exoplanets are named according to a system: star: There are only artists" impressions of exoplanets, no actual photographs. The transit method 1250 exoplanets found up until now. The doppler (radial velocity / wobble) method 619 exoplanets found. Transit the process during which one celestial object passes in front of another body from our view point. The light curve dips and slopes downward when the brightness of the image decreases only when a transit occurs a planet passes in front of its parent star. An image of exoplanets cannot be seen but light curve is measured: transits only occur when the planet"s orbit is in the same plane as our solar system edge on from our view point.