Powerpoint presentation on exoplanets

1. Exoplanets

2. What are
Exoplanets?
• An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is
any planet that orbits a star other
than the sun.
• Orbits can vary greatly in distance
to the star with some being close
and some being far.

3. How do scientists identify
exoplanets?
Due to the great distance and darkness of space, exoplanets are small and hard to see.
So, astronomers use indirect methods to find them.

4. Transit method

5. Other Methods of identification
Pulsar timing
Radial Velocity
Variable Star Timing
Relativistic beaming

6. First Discovered (confirmed)
• The first discovered exoplanet was in 1988, at the
very limits of technology and took years to confirm.
• The first confirmed exoplanet was discovered in
January 1992 by Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail
in the constellation Virgo.

7. Where are
they?
• To date, more than 1,500
exoplanets have been found while
thousands of candidate planets are
still awaiting confirmation. The
majority of the exoplanets found
have been found inside the white
circle, as technology advances this
circle will inevitably grow.

8. Looking Ahead.
Nasa’s Spitzer Space Telescope identified seven Earth-sized exoplanets near the
ultra-cool dwarf star named Trappist -1. These planets are drawing attention
because of their location; what has been deemed as the habitable zone.

9. References
http://exo.missouristate.edu/ast/113/Week14.pdf
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-telescope-reveals-largest-batch-of-earth-size-
habitable-zone-planets-around