Exoplanets Lab Student Sheet 1 PDF

Title	Exoplanets Lab Student Sheet 1
Author	John Doe
Course	Introduction To The Solar System
Institution	The University of British Columbia
Pages	2
File Size	110.4 KB
File Type	PDF
Total Downloads	50
Total Views	147

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Lab 4 for astr101...

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Lab 4 - Exoplanets: Handout #1 Name: _________________________

Section: ___________

Partner Names: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Planetary Characteristics Exoplanets, just like the planets in our own Solar System, have a wide variety of physical properties. Task 1 ● For any newly-discovered planet, what are some of its properties that you would like to know? Which properties are important for assessing habitability? Discuss this with your group and write your responses below.

The Transit Method for Detecting Planets An exoplanetary transit occurs whenever an exoplanet passes in front of its host star, as viewed from Earth. This causes a small, but detectable dip in the observed stellar flux. When the planet moves past the star from our point of view, the flux returns to the “normal” value. Your TA will show you an animation of the transit method and you can simulate the transit method for exoplanets using this tool: http://astro.unl.edu/classaction/animations/extrasolarplanets/transitsimulator.html. (It does require flash player). You can also see this video: h  ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrusIZaWDW8

Lab 4 - Exoplanets: Handout #1

Lightcurve of Planet ASTR101-b We've found a new planet! Planet ASTR101-b was observed using UBC's very own MOST Telescope. The resulting light curve is displayed in the hallway of Hennings by room 302 -- a series of images will be made available to you for the full light curve, which has 8 transit events. Below is a picture of a portion of the light curve. The x-axis is units of time and increases to the right. The y-axis is relative brightness. Don’t worry about reading the units in detail at the moment.

Task 2 ● What characteristics of the light curve can you measure? What can these tell you about the system? Feel free to refer to your list from Task 1. Write your responses below and let your TA know when you are ready to take measurements....