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Astrophysics
Cosmology
Exoplanets
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Created by
Harry Parker
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Cards (19)
What is an exoplanet?
A planet outside our
Solar System
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Why are exoplanets difficult to detect directly?
Host star
light is much brighter than planet light
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What angles do exoplanets subtend compared to telescopes?
Extremely
small angles
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What techniques do astronomers use to observe exoplanets?
Indirect detection
techniques
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What are the two indirect detection techniques for exoplanets?
Transit method
Radial velocity method
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What happens during the Transit Method?
A planet obscures light from its
star
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What is measured to obtain a light curve in the Transit Method?
The
apparent magnitude
of the star's light
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What can the Transit Method tell us about an exoplanet?
Size
and
orbital period
of the exoplanet
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How is the size of the exoplanet determined using the Transit Method?
By measuring the dip in
brightness
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How is the orbital period of the exoplanet determined using the Transit Method?
By measuring the
duration
of the dip
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What is a limitation of the Transit Method?
Alignment
of Earth, planet, and star is crucial
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What type of planets can be detected using the Transit Method?
Only planets with a short
orbital period
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What occurs as a planet orbits its host star in the Radial Velocity Method?
Both orbit around a common
center of mass
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What happens to the star's line spectrum as it moves towards Earth?
It shows
blueshift
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What happens to the star's line spectrum as it moves away from Earth?
It shows
redshift
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How are periodic shifts in the star's light wavelength measured?
Using the
Doppler shift
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What is the relationship between the orbital period of the planet and the Doppler shift?
They are equal in time period
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What is a limitation of the Radial Velocity Method?
Low-mass
planets cause less 'wobble'
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What type of planets do not cause much 'wobble' in the Radial Velocity Method?
Low-mass
or
Earth-like
planets
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