Biology 1002B Lecture Notes - Photometer, Methods Of Detecting Exoplanets, Shining Light
21 Apr 2013
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Lecture 26: the drake equation: all of the terms (and the rationale underlying their suggested values) of the drake equation. fp = the fraction of those stars that have planets = 0. 5 (observational data support) N = ns fp ne fl f i fc l. N = number of advanced civilizations in our galaxy. Ns = number of stars = 100 billion. L = average lifetime of a civilization (hard to achieve: mechanism by which the transit method detects extrasolar planets. To determine what fraction of stars have planetary systems. Kepler mission: detect presence of planets around distant stars. Detect sensitive changes in apparent of a star: giant mirror that gathers light on bottom, photometer that sits in the middle. Transit method: the graph will oscillate. Rhythmic oscillating in apparent star brightness as orbiting planets move between kepler and star: when a planet transits/moves in front of a star.
