PHYS 182 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Terrestrial Planet, Gravitational Lens, Starspot
24 Jan 2018
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In 1985 - we did not know of planets orbiting another star. In 2014 - over 1000 were discovered. Kepler satellite - a nasa mission to find extrasolar planets (cut short :( ) Detection is done using radial velocity and mostly primary transit. Planets are 10 9 times fainter than their parent star. Planets are completely overshadowed by light of a star. Planets are 10 6 times fainter than their parent star in infrared. Most searches are more successful in infrared than visible light. Very first planet was discovered around pulsar in the 1990s! Planet that either formed after supernova, or survived supernova. Parent star is at center and light is masked out. So they can see light of planet and their orbit around parent star. Expensive to make coronagraph and takes a long time to observe. Infer its presence from observation of it"s parent. Radial velocity (2nd most common way of detecting)
