View Single Post
Old 04-20-2014, 01:02 AM  
BIGTYMER
Junior Achiever
 
BIGTYMER's Avatar
 
Industry Role:
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Walled Garden
Posts: 17,066
Quote:
Originally Posted by NETbilling View Post
How do they actually find, analyze and photograph a planet 500 light years away?
PBS had a great show on this topic just a few weeks ago.

Basically they watch a star and monitor how long it takes a planet to orbit it. The faster/slower the orbit the closer/further away. The closer to the sun the hotter and the further away the colder. This one orbits it sun at just the right speed to be an Earth like planet.
BIGTYMER is offline   Share thread on Digg Share thread on Twitter Share thread on Reddit Share thread on Facebook Reply With Quote