Finding Exoplanets
Science · Space Exploration · conceptual
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
What mastery looks like
- Explains transit photometry: the small, periodic dip in a star's brightness when a planet passes in front of it
- Explains the habitable zone as the range of distances from a star where liquid water could exist on a planet's surface
- Describes two or more atmospheric biosignatures and explains why their co-presence is significant (e.g. oxygen + methane together suggests active life replenishing both)
Check your understanding
If Finding Exoplanets 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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