Exoplanet Detection

Space holds many physics mysteries even today with new discoveries being made almost daily. Some of these are close to home and within our own solar system such as that of the dwarf planet Eris back in 2005, however some are thousands of light years away such as the first exoplanets ever discovered: Phobetor and Poltergeist over a decade earlier in 1992. There are many ingenious ways scientists and astrophysicists have come up with to detect exoplanets (planets beyond the sun and out of our solar system). Not only that, many of these methods also allow us to learn about the mass and radii (physical size) of any exoplanets. This video discusses the history of these measurements, their power and significance in modern astronomy, the possibility of extra-terrestrial life and of course the how the detection methods themselves work. These include the Transit method which measures regular luminosity dips in distant stars due to orbiting planets. The Radial Velocity method analyses small perturbations (reflex motion) of stars due to gravity and them orbiting the barycentre with an exoplanet and the resultant Doppler shift (redshift and blueshift) of the starlight. The Pulsar Timing Method, which measures the changing frequency of electromagnetic jets from pulsars (mangetised neutron stars). Astrometry, which analyses the path of stars along the sky. Gravitational Lensing, or in this case microlensing of light from background stars. And also Direct Imaging of certain exoplanets. 0:00 - Discoveries within our own Solar System 0:18 - Phobetor: The First Exoplanet Discovered 1:28 - Pulsar Timing Method and Electromagnetism 2:58 - Transit Photometry and Starlight 5:09 - Radial Velocity Method and Dopplershifting 6:38 - Astrometric, Gravitational Microlensing and Direct Imaging Methods 7:57 - Outlook and Discoveries by Method and by Year