Category Archives: Exoplanets

Are There Planets Outside of Our Solar System?

Posted on November 18, 2024 by Matthew Marcus

The answer to this question is a resounding yes. Before the Copernican Revolution, back when many cultures still believed the Earth to be the center of the universe, the fact that these exoplanets exist would have been largely unthinkable. But today, well over 5,000 exoplanets have been discovered. When these distant bodies have eluded us […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Exoplanets | Tagged , | Comments Off on Are There Planets Outside of Our Solar System?

Extrasolar(exo) Planets

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Henry Wang

Extrasolar planets, or as they are better known: exoplanets, refers to any planet that exists outside of our own solar system, which is quite a lot. Astronomers are naturally very interested in planets in other solar systems, learning about their properties, sizes, or age. This information helps us understand our own solar system but also […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Exoplanets | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Extrasolar(exo) Planets

Some “Firsts” of Exoplanets

Posted on November 15, 2024 by Leo Silva

Before the discovery of any exoplanets (prior to 1992), scientists hypothesized that star systems will planets (planetary systems) similar to our own solar system might exist around other stars– even without having confirmed evidence of them in the same way we do today. In some ways, they expected that these other planetary systems would likely […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Exoplanets, Historical, Science | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Some “Firsts” of Exoplanets

Blog 04 – Proxima b

Posted on October 19, 2024 by Mercedes

The closest star system to Earth is Alpha Centauri, a three-star system. A planet, Proxima b, approximately 1.3 times the mass of ours orbits off the smallest star, Proxima Centauri. This planet orbits its star even closer than Mercury does the Sun and only takes 11 days to complete a single one! Despite this, Proxima […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Exoplanets | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Blog 04 – Proxima b

Deadly Exoplanet

Posted on April 29, 2024 by sabrinaalperin

While my last blog post talked about the search for intelligent alien civilizations on habitable planets, I want to dedicate this blog post to the exact opposite. This blog post is dedicated to one of the weirdest exoplanets discovered, HD 189773b. Do not be confused by it’s bright blue beauty. The planet is anything but […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Exoplanets | Tagged , | Comments Off on Deadly Exoplanet

Visualizing Exoplanet s

Posted on April 27, 2024 by Angela Harris

The subject of my blog 5 post was the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system. While learning about this system of extrasolar planets, I was fascinated by the  illustrations of exoplanets that can’t be photographed by telescopes. Tim Pyle and Robert Hurt are two artists who create renderings of exoplanets by using data about an exoplanet’s size, mass, […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Exoplanets, Science | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Visualizing Exoplanet s

Gotta find them all!!

Posted on April 25, 2024 by Abbie!!

Knowing about all the planets in our own solar system made us wonder if there are other planetary systems out there as well. And there are!! But how did we detect these extrasolar planets? There are four ways to detect extrasolar planets. The simplest way, but not always the easiest way, is direct observation. That’s […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Exoplanets | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Gotta find them all!!

How do we discover Exoplanets?

Posted on April 9, 2024 by Garrett

Depiction of Astrometry For this blog I wanted to look into exoplanets and more specifically how we discover them. I found that there are 4 main methods to discover exoplanets. The first is the radial velocity method. This is how many of the first exoplanets were discovered. This method observes the doppler shift in the […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Exoplanets, Physics | Tagged , | Comments Off on How do we discover Exoplanets?

The Not so Coolest Exoplanet

Posted on April 7, 2024 by Andres Becerra

Now, I am from Phoenix, Arizona and it gets pretty hot over there. Which is why I think this is the “coolest” exoplanet. 55 Cancri E. Take a look at this beauty. Artist representation of 55 Cancri E This is a planet I can get down with. It looks exactly like Mustafar from Star Wars. […] Continue reading →

Posted in Exoplanets | Tagged , , | Comments Off on The Not so Coolest Exoplanet

Our Closest Stellar Neighbor

Posted on April 7, 2024 by sabrinaalperin

If I am going to be honest, my decision to dedicate this blog post to the Alpha Centauri system comes from a TV show that I watched a few years ago. Netflix’s remake of Lost in Space follows a family as they travel across the universe to Alpha Centauri to start a colony there. Captured […] Continue reading →

Posted in Exoplanets, Stars, Universe | Tagged , | Comments Off on Our Closest Stellar Neighbor