Have astronomers been able to detect planets outside the solar system?

Answer 1

Here are a couple of the ways. Astronomers look for wobbles in the movements of stars. This may indicate that a large planet is in orbit around it. They also look for small regular variations in the brightness of stars, possibly indicating that a planet passes over the face of the star that we see, slightly reducing the amount of light we get from the star.

Answer 2

With Telescopes yer big ones :P

People first investigated the planets by looking through magnifying glasses and then wondered what was up there so they sent space crafts up and looked at some of the planets to explore space and… it took off from there.

Answer 3

As they obit their own sun they pass between it and us and make a change (a reduction) in the amount of light which reaches us. The dip in light and the duration of that dip can be used to estimate the size of the planet and its rate of orbit.

Answer 4

Since stars are massive and bright, and planets are tiny and dark. even the VLT can't spot them. So they use computers to track the star's position in 3d space. If the star wobbles, it's a good sign there is a planet tugging at the star. Using this method, they can use advanced software to find out the planet's numbers, size, mass, speed and even measure what gases they may have using advanced light spectroscopes .This shows certain colours because of certain gases.

Another way is that if the planet passes between us and it's parent star, the star would appear darker.

Another way is to detect red shifts and blue shifts in the star's spectrum which means the planet is wobbling, which is most likely caused by the planet.

Low lithium in the star's spectrum is also a good indicator of a planet.

The most recent method is direct imaging.

Answer 5

There are quite a few methods currently being used and refined. The most accurate method being used is the Doppler method. Using this method we can detect a shift in sun from its center of mass being caused by orbiting planets. The one I'm most familiar with is the Transit Method. This is the second most commonly used method. Basically when the planet passes on the side of the star we are observing, the brightness drops slightly. We are able to measure the planets size based on this.

Answer 6

Yes, several hundred planets outside our own solar system have been detected by various means. These planets are known as Exo-solar planets or Exoplanets. One method used is to detect the `wobble` on the parent star, the gravitational effect of the planet on the star as it orbits.

Answer 7

Yep- quite a few, actually. They are known as exoplanets. Starting in 1988, and as of 1 October 2016, there have been 3,532 exoplanets in 2,649 planetary systems and 595 multiple planetary systems confirmed.