🔬 Science · Space Exploration

Finding Exoplanets

Describe how astronomers detect planets around other stars using transit photometry (dip in starlight as a planet crosses) and radial velocity (Doppler wobble of the star), explain the habitable zone concept, and discuss what atmospheric biosignatures — such as oxygen, methane, and water vapour detected together — would suggest about a planet

Typical age: 11–13 years

“If your child heard that a planet the size of Earth had been found in the habitable zone of a nearby star, could they explain how astronomers detected it, what the habitable zone means, and what they'd look for in its atmosphere to decide if life might exist there?”

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The solar system (age 11+)
Exoplanet detection depends on understanding the detailed structure of the solar system
The Vast Scale of SpaceREQUIRED
Exoplanet detection methods depend on understanding the scale of the universe in nested layers

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