Exoplanets

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt

The Solar System has 8 planets and we call them planets in our solar system but planets that revolve around another star is considered an Exo-Planet and these exo-planets have been a debate for a long time if these planets are real but with new technologies and methods we have a lot more evidence pointing toward that these Exo-Planets do exist. We can't really use a telescope to find these exo-planets because they are hidden by the brightness of the nearest star. However one way we know that these exo-planets exists is because of the wobbly effect the planets have on the star. To understand the Wobbly effect we have to understand what a Barycenter is. All objects have a barycenter and this is where the center of mass is. Stars don't move but stars that have planets that orbit around them move and this because the effect the planet has on the star. A planet the size of Jupiter or even bigger can cause the Star to orbit a different Barycenter which makes like the Star is wobbling back and forth. For a planet the size of the Earth will not be able to change the barycenter of the Planet and the Star. This wobble effect we see of stars proves that there are exo-planets out there. The second method is called the transit method and this method is what the spacecraft Kepler uses to find planets the size of Earth. The transit method is when a planet goes in front of a star and this reduces the brightness of the star and with this the scientists can figure out the size of the planet. The time it takes to transit can explain the temperature of a planet. If the planet is the good temperature it could support life.

The James Webb Space Telescope that was launched in last December will research other Exo-Planets by recording the transit method. This is an Infared telescope and can be used to learn more about when the planets cross the star which cause dimming and this dimming can give astronomers a lot of information about the planet written in the previous paragraph. This telescope also uses spectroscopy which uses light to figure out what the atmosphere of the planet is made of. Each of the color is linked to an element on the periodic table. This is how the James Webb Space Telescope is used to learn more about Exo-Planets