Precise Size of Exoplanet
17 December 2008
Planets planets everywhere, now only if we could see them. There are supposedly hundreds of planets that have been found within our Milky Way galaxy however none of them have ever been seen. Even the closest star only shows up as a bright spot of light and the planets are too small to be seen.
The most common way that planets are found is by the wobble of the star. Just as the star pulls on a planet, the planet pulls on the star. There are some planets like WASP-10b that just happen to perfectly orbit so they cross directly between their star and our planet (if you think of three dimensional space and the odds this would happen it is very slim). When this happens we can use telescopes like the UH 2.2-meter telescope to measure the change in brightness. This equivalent 1.4 Gigapixel camera can pickup the change in brightness of a moth flying in front of a window 1000 miles away, but still can not see the planet.
Just remember, there may be many planets out there but it will be a great day when we can actually see them.
http://www2.ifa.hawaii.edu/newsletters/article.cfm?a=407&n=34
