ASTRON 2B03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Exoplanet, Methods Of Detecting Exoplanets, Orbital Period
28 Aug 2016
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Document Summary
Exoplanets: (extrasolar planets) this is a new field of study, really getting started in 1995. What is a planet: objects with true masses below the limiting mass for thermonuclear fusion of deuterium (~13 jupiter masses) that orbit stars are planets . Free floating objects in young star clusters with masses below the limiting mass for thermonuclear fusion is called a sub-brown dwarf . There are about 70 known planets within 50 light years. Most known planets lie within 300 light-years of the sun. Hunting for planets is hard, so we can only find those near to us. In 1991, the first planet around a pulsar was announced, but in 1992, the first robust and official announcement was made for 2 planets discovered around a pulsar. In 1989, a planet was discovered as well, but the astronomers did not trust their own data because it was nothing like our own solar system.
