How Were Exoplanets Found?
As mentioned earlier, the efforts of exploring the abandoned and hidden planets in the galaxy were started way before. Scientific history states that the era early of early exploration, and sophisticated telescopes accompanied exoplanet detection both in space and around. Some were designed to measure the sizes and types of these planets, and others were deployed to take a closer view of them.
One of the vital steps involved in getting to know more about exoplanets was direct imaging of exoplanets. There were two main methods that scientists relied on, wobble and shadows. The wobble method, also known as radial velocity, detects the telltale jitters of the stars when they are pulled with the gravitation of the orbiting planet. The wobble method is used to measure the mass of the planet.
Both of these methods were used to develop the initial images of the first exoplanet, i.e., 51 Peg back in 1995. It was the combined efforts of Michael Mayor and Didier Queloz. The radical velocity methods using the ground telescopes have found around 700 planets so far. A large number of exoplanets were found by searching for shadows.
Shadows are caused by the dip in starlight when a planet crosses its way. The such crossing is called a transit. These shadows reveal how big the star is. Searching for the planetary shadows is called the transit method that scientists generally use to check up on the planets. NASA’s Kepler space telescope invented in 2009 has discovered 2,600 confirmed exoplanets. In the K2 mission, the telescope is all set to explore new and undiscovered planets soon. Both the methods, wobbles and shadows are being upgraded to get closer insights into the exoplanets real more quickly.