How to find a planet you can’t see
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- Опубліковано 26 січ 2022
- Tiny wobbles and faint twinkles that have led astronomers to nearly 5,000 new worlds.
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For a tour of some of the odd exoplanets scientists have found, watch part one, here: • What we found when we ...
Pluto was discovered in January of 1930, a tiny speck on a photographic plate (www.planetary.org/space-image.... It was the most distant world humans had ever seen. Decades later, even the powerful Hubble Space Telescope struggled to get a good look at the dwarf planet - the Hubble image of Pluto is just a sickly yellow smudge (esahubble.org/images/opo1006h/).
So when astronomers set out to search for planets around other stars (aka “exoplanets), they knew it wouldn’t be easy. Our closest neighbor, a little red dwarf named Proxima Centauri, is 7,000 times further away from us than Pluto. Any planets in orbit around it would likely get lost in the glare of bright starlight.
“Trying to see an earthlike planet across interstellar distances,” writes astrophysicist Adam Frank, “would be like looking from New York City to AT&T Park in San Francisco, where the Giants play, and making out a firefly next to one of the stadium spotlights.”
“To detect or study an exoplanet,” says Sara Seager, a planet-hunting astrophysicist at MIT, “we have to work with the star.”
Astronomers started monitoring stars for tiny changes that could hint at the presence of one or more planets. Early efforts focused on the search for a wobble. The pull of a planet’s gravity causes a star to circle their mutual center of gravity - and from our vantage point the star seems to swing back and forth. In 1995, a Swiss team picked up the signature of just such a wobble in the starlight from a yellow dwarf in the Pegasus constellation. They had found 51-Pegasi b: the first exoplanet around a sun-like star.
Over the next few decades, astrophysicists honed a whole range of planet-hunting tools. They learned to spot the way planets can change the shape of their stars, how a planet’s gravity can bend light, and the periodic drop in brightness when a planet passes between its star and Earth. Telescopes have become more precise and powerful, and computers have become better at sifting out signal from noise. Today, we’re closing in on 5,000 known exoplanets (exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech....
Fifty years ago, astronomers had no idea what percentage of stars had planets. A common educated guess was 20%, but for all we knew it could have been zero. But based on what we’ve seen since, it seems possible that every star has at least one planetary companion.
Now that we know exoplanets exist, it’s time to learn more about them. What are they made of? How did they form? And, most tantalizing, could they harbor life? We’re like sailors who have spotted a tiny rise of land on the horizon. Now we want to study this new island’s geology and biology and make contact with any inhabitants … but we have to do it all from aboard our ship, floating trillions of miles out at sea.
~~~
Presented by the Center for Matter at Atomic Pressures (CMAP) at the University of Rochester,
a National Science Foundation (NSF) Physics Frontier Center, Award PHY-2020249
www.rochester.edu/cmap/
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Science Foundation.
~~~
Further reading:
The discovery of 51 Pegasi b:
www.nature.com/articles/378355a0
exoplanets.nasa.gov/alien-wor...
The potential of the James Webb Space Telescope
www.vox.com/science-and-healt...
The Smallest Lights in the Universe - Sara Seager’s memoir
www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...
Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth
www.adamfrankscience.com/ligh...
The fraught and fractious history of failed exoplanet discoveries:
astronomy.com/bonus/phantoms
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For a tour of some of the odd exoplanets that have been discovered since 1995, watch our last video: ua-cam.com/video/lrAFaONyLtU/v-deo.html
Thank you
Just what I needed tbh y'all the best
Please keep up the astronomy videos very interesting and enjoyable.
Sheesh
Love and support from Nepal ❤️❤️🔥
This was expertly crafted educational material. Seriously, well done.
Seriously, a great educational video. It was curated and illustrated in such a seamless manner!
If you can't find the planet, it means someone erased it in the archive!
I was mesmerized.
@@JENDALL714 that’s impossible. If it isn’t in the archives, it simply doesn’t exist.
@@iKingdomTV Impossible. Perhaps the archives are incomplete.
I love how you explain in a way that is not overwhelming that even a not so bright person like me can understand
Even if it was, it'd be awesome.
Space is exciting (well, i think so at least)
Here is the secret. You have been bright and smart from the beginning!
@@filipinordabest agreed!
I feel like smart people are the ones aware their not the brightest. trust me your probably smarter than average.
You are, and have always been bright
Even though appearing for just an insignificant amount of time in this video: that professor who dismissed Sara's ideas and then later kind of stake claim to it, is very, very real in academia and scientific research.
It's firstly gatekeeping: they say, oh, this is not possible.
And then when you make it, they say, oh, I've said that all the time: it's gonna be huge!
Thanks Vox for highlighting this: and props to Sara for soldering on despite people like that in her field. You go!
Gatekeeping is still ok, for the sake of solid proofs. But the lack of acceptance in being wrong is horrid.
well give us a name then lol
Gatekeeping is not about proofs all the time in my experience. Some times is about ego and exercising control arbitrarily and capriciously on the part of the professors with power. I hope the next generation of researchers get to be less prone to this emotionaly immature habit.
@@psicologiajoseh Yes. Hopefully individual egos reduce in the future.
@@psicologiajoseh
"Gatekeeping is still ok, for the sake of solid proofs" - this wording does not mean it's about proofs all the time @ your "Gatekeeping is not about proofs all the time in my experience"
Anuj's wording infers that for cases where it IS for solid proofs, it's okay. The wording also infers that there are times when it's not for solid proofs... as you redundantly state.
I'm so glad astronomy is coming into the eye of the public. Thank you for sharing, Vox!
And I feel that astronomy is going to get even more popular in the coming years, especially once we establish our permanent presence on the Moon and Mars.
@@mathskafunda4383 Yep! It is only the beginning!
I too am a very excited person as well
I think people are gearing up for the possible JWST discoveries.
too sad, i wont be able to live long enough to witness advancements in astronomy and interplanetary humans
"We are universes way of experiencing itself" Space is the most beautiful and fascinating thing.
didn't some smart guy said that?
There's a religion in there somewhere.
@@HowlingWolf518 don't bring religion into this, please!
@@ramirezlensonjosephwhiteca5030 Clarification: a _new_ religion. One that doesn't have to beat everybody else down for not believing in it.
@Wuxxy Why do we tell stories and myths in the first place? Answer that, and you'll have yours.
Another proof that science is constantly advancing and we should use it in the most useful way as possible.
Sadly we can look in a limited way but not go there and observe.
Not only that, but to also combat the increasingly number of anti-science people
As much as I love exploratory science and NASA, there’s a part of me that wants to acknowledge that solving global hunger, homelessness, and mineral shortage crises are more useful than looking for exoplanets. Same thing for paleontology, wich I also love. I know Nasa gave us the internet and things like that. But still. Wanted to just shout that out.
@@serpentmaster1323 But it's not like it would help much even if we stopped all exoplanet searches and directed all its money into solving world hunger. There are simply too many starving people. It would be a few pence per person per year or something. The truth is that nobody figured out a way to solve world hunger. and no, shoving massive amounts of money into poor countries was not the solution. All the money got lost somewhere down the line due to corrupt politicians.
It's fascinating how long we've come in our space exploration journey and technology but sadly we are not even half way there in knowing or discovering any mysteries of our universe.
You’d be surprised how much knowledge you take for granted arose only in recent decades
It’s an amazing paradox. The more we know, the more we don’t know. One discovery leads to more questions.
HALF? We don't know 0.001% of what's going on.
Bro we are I feel like we are only 1% there lol.
Think about it this way: how exciting would the universe be if we already knew everything about it?
I know this entirely isn’t the point but that rainbow chalkboard shot was so cool!
I replayed it three times LOL
@@chrisloughnane4592 Same! Highlight of my day so far
As a zoologist, I can say that people from the physics field think only earth type life can exist in this universe. But we only *know* earth-like life. The possibilities of life are endless. Understanding life is my favourite part of my life. Maybe life somewhere in this universe inhales H2SO4 vapours and exhale something different.
Thanks for the awesome video as always, Vox!
We can only recognise what we know. That is why we search for life that is like ours
True, but carbon and oxygen are two of the most reactive elements we know so I still think the probability of a non-carbon based lifeform is still low. Then again, I'm not an expert.
Yes that’s the stuff I awaits wonder about also
Without water there is no life
@@ithink546why is that?
I really adore how Vox involve Sara in this video. Not only i learned about astronomy but also learn her journey and the importance about the things that she working on.
Vox has been fascinating me for so long that now I’m finally getting the opportunity to major in astrophysics! (I’m studying these same concepts right now!)
Very cool! I really wanted to take that major but in my home country, space programs are poorly funded and it would be impractical to take that major and work there; so I majored in engineering. But astrophysics would be my 1st major to choose if i had the opportunity :)
@@Md-sd2go Relatable. Where you from
@@mwanikimwaniki6801 Saudi Arabia, and you?
@@Md-sd2go Kenya
@@Md-sd2go you can always apply for scholarships in other countries
It's reassuring to know that there are people looking out there for the bigger picture while so many of us are bogged down in day to day life.
Great video, as always!
If anyone reading this comment is interested in how planetary scientists work, I highly suggest reading "Placing Outer Space" by anthropologist Lisa Messeri. It goes into detail about all of this (and much more) from a social perspective. I studied it while researching for my thesis and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Thanks for suggesting! I'll give it time
Thank you! Is it suitable for casual reading? Or do you have to have background knowledge?
Wouldn't the wobble of the star caused due to cumulative effect of all the planets? How can that wobble be singled out for a particular one planet? Someone explain.
Yes but because those planets will be in different orbits (some further in and some further out), they will create a repeating cycle of patterns that scientists can recognize. Sometimes their gravitational effects will compound on one another and sometimes they will cancel each other out, but once you have the data you can go: okay how can this praticular pattern emerge? and simulate in a computer until you find a configuration that matches the observations
One planet creates a wobble shaped like a sine wave. Multiple planets with different orbital periods would essentially be like overlapping sine waves. You just perform a fourier transform and you get the frequencies of those overlapping orbits.
It's essentially just like your stereo that has those bars that jump with the different frequencies when you play a song. Play an audio file that has e.g. a 400Hz and a 1200Hz sine wave in it and you will see two distinct peaks at 400 and at 1200Hz.
@@VulpeculaJoy Yeah, the first thing that came to my head was FFT
@@Half1ife77 what about the first system when there were no data other than of our own system. That too incomplete, we don't know if there is another planet further than pluto.
@@VulpeculaJoy doesnot fourier transformation help transform other functions to sine and cos waves?
Why apply fourier transformation to an already sine wave?
Now thats what i call perfection 👌. I’m talking about the presentation. How well you transformed that un-understandable information to something everyone could understand.
A video that actually teaches you how astronomy works. Excellently made video.
Really well made Vox…..you make it look so easy
Very excited you guys are covering this- studying an exoplanet system using the transit method is the subject of a research project I am helping out with right now!
Great video, thanks! Echoing other users' comments about making a potentially difficult subject accessible and interesting. A quick question about the Wobble Method. Does the method only account for the effect by the closest planet to the star and not all the planets in the system it's in? Not quite sure how this method can work out how many planets there are in the system.
Good question! First I'll note that the easiest wobble to see isn't necessarily from the closest planet - in our system, the most noticeable wobble is caused by Jupiter because it is so massive. And you're right that multiple planets complicates things ... but it can still be possible to suss out a multiple planetary system based on its wobble. Check out the paper "Detecting extrasolar planets from stellar radial velocities using Bayesian evidence" (2010) - and look at Figure 1. You can see there's a big oscillation, but also distinct smaller wiggles that define the overall wobble. It's like a bunch sine waves (with different wavelengths) added together. Of course it's easiest to interpret these signals when the planets have very different masses and orbits. There's often a lot of uncertainty - but with continuous precise data, systems with multiple planets can be found and studied.
@@adamcole138 thank you so much for the explanation and the relevant reference, much appreciated! So fascinating and so worthwhile! Thank you thank you!
Vox makes me so happy by presenting such complex information in a way that I can understand and satisfy my curiosity. Thank you Vox :))
I actually did a project on how exoplanets were discovered and categorized back in 5th grade, although I wasn't aware of newer techniques like direct imaging. Very interesting!
I saved this video to my watch later playlist, but I kept skipping over it because I thought it would be difficult for me to understand. I was pleasantly surprised that I watched the whole video, and even went to go back to it when UA-cam glitched in between. The video was simple to understand, educational, and wasn't boring. Keep going, Vox. ❤
The quality of this piece is astounding! Bravo!
Vox, I appreciate your team and the work you guys do. It’s the only journalism on UA-cam that I love.
I appreciate these documentaries, Vox. Thank you.
Vox is doing some amazing stuff with Astrophysics for dummies. Love it!!!! Need More!!!
Love this science. We have to keep supporting this work.
4:13 : At first, I heard "simple math" while looking at the board (without seeing the text) and I told myself "Wait, WHAT?". I backed off and I saw the text saying simple math for an astrophysicist. Lol
Your videos really asks questions which is normal people has in their mind and you answers those question in very simple way.
Enjoying Vox partnering with Sara for these videos, she is so informative and her passion really shines through!
This is such a great series! All these questions I didn't know I had
11:12 I'm surprised that he didn't just outright take credit for it.
Amazingly well drafted video explaining this wonderful concept! Thank you
Wow, this was an absolutely great video. So well done! I could undestand something so complex and up to date in a very accessible manner. Just excellent job, congratulations! If there was a video like this for every complex topic in the field of knowledge humanity could dream of leaving the dark denial era that we are undergoing.
Could we have an episode about the different types of exoplanets that could exist?
Amazing editing Vox, good work!
I really wanna learn how you guys do this stuff! Video edits, graphics, content is literally through the roof amazing!
I admire the amount of work done and the remarkable scriptwriting in this video. Kudos and a pleasure to watch as always!
Man, these videos are amazing...pls make more of these!
loving this series!
Keep on doing space-themed videos! 👏🏾
This has been a fantastic new series and host so far 👍
Always love these kind of videos! Never even _heard_ of Star Shade, that one is surprising. I'm the guy who looks on a News Outlet website and keeps scrolling until i find the juicy _astronomy_ articles! Lol
Thankyou vox . This is a very knowledgeable video . I really appreciate your work 😃
This is such a well-produced video. The material, the guest, narration and music... and I'm not even finished yet but I just had to comment that.
Loving these astronomy videos!
This videos make me so happy! Well done Vox :)
The absolute commitment to that 3 second joke at 9:18
Thank you so much Vox! This is very informative I hope you guys make videos about astrophysics or space more!
Brilliant work!!! Thank you for making!
Best video I’ve seen yet thank you vox ❤️
Thanks Vox for these informative videos!!!
The universe is like our minds. It's AMAZING, and we can find a LOT of things if we just look.
Wow it was a series! Keep them coming!
It's amazing , how humans from being hunters gathers reach this milestone of intellect
Because we are not like our other hominid ancestors we survived due to intelligence and curiosity hope we will progress much farther
"we may never be able to detect ..." As if we are anywhere near the limits on telescope technology.
Yeah, that was ironic as it was the same thing we said 30 years ago about techniques that are now widely accepted. All it really means is we haven't yet conceived of the technology that will provide the solution, but I don't take it as a total absolute impossibility. We just don't know what we don't yet know.
@@QuintusAntonious we always break our scientific limits it's exciting to even think about future telescopes
120k Views in 8 Hours! Clear explanation and amazing content as Always!
Great video, i love the animations that give us laymen an easy explanation.
this was incredibly well done. Bravo 👏🏼
this is incredible. love everything about this video!
It is an amazing piece of instructional content because of the breathtaking images, concise narration, and unique insights into the techniques used by astronomers to find hidden planets. genuinely fascinating
Sun wabble was a new knowledge for me. With this channel, I learn something new always
Vox content is just brilliant every time. Thank You !!
Great video Vox..Hats off to the team 🎇
Absolutely loving this series. amazing work!
Good job with these simple explanations. My brain doesn't hurt that much
Your videos are so beautiful they make me wanna cry!
Thank you...
Informative and humorous, thank you Adam
I love these astronomy/space exploration videos!!! Keep them coming Vox. You’re teaching us so much.
*Astronomy. Astrology is not science.
@@FrankyPi oh thanks for pointing that out! My foreigner brain gets those words mixed up lol
@@reabin9x No worries.
This is sooo entertaining to watch, Thanks VOX !!!
I wonder if you can tie in a spectroscope with a sensor that is only tuned to detect say... The very narrow bands around oxygen's absorption lines. And then only register if oxygen's absorption lines are apparent in those bands? i.e. those frequencies are missing.
Could you literally get an oxygen light image. Or a iron light image. Or a calcium light image? I mean... Whatever can be detected via spectroscopy.
That would filter out an awful lot of useless light if you want to look at things other than stars.
Well, that things is exist and it's called narrowband filter. It have been used in astronomy for decades.
Wouldn't you be overwhelmed by the oxygen absorption lines from the interstellar gas and from nearby nebulae?
GREAT VIDEO. More space related videos please!
I wonder... when wobble method is used, can scientists calculate how many planets orbit that particular star? Because I would expect all planets to contribute to the wobble, so calculating the mass of the planet isn't possible without knowing how many of them there, right?
It’s pretty hard to do that. Considering that there may be many planets that are so far away from the star that they won’t be able to affect the star’s “wobble”. We can only calculate the mass of the planet/planets from the “wobble” effect, and assume that the mass we calculate from a particular star’s wobble is 5 x 10^6 kg. That may be one planet with that mass or several. So there’s really no way to know how many planets are revolving around a star.
@@mathskafunda4383 Thank you for clearing that up!
@@AlexLosty maybe they use the transit method for the farther planet it also have drawback if planets will not come directly in front of its star will not dim the star
Can we just talk about how perfect that checkmark is at 4:28
Great video. More space stuff please!
glad that people has become more conscious and aware of astronomy, it is a really fascinating field to study
Excellent video, I learned alot!
wow, please continue to this kind of videos. Thanks a lot
Very informative - thank you!
Thank you for this I've been asking this for a while but didn't have the time or energy to do all the research.
I feel so grateful having such talented and intelligent people making all these contributions for all of us and I can be a couch potato and enjoy it all🙆♀️
So well done. Teaching done in a good story
10:07 This brings a whole new meaning to "sun flower"
Kudos to you for kaking this technical topic interesting.
Such valuable information...clearing most of my doubts
Amazing video. Well done
Got recommended this straight after my dissertation Viva on discovery of nearby exoplanets. Search history showing up well.
I'm so addicted to this channel. Loving the content
Thank you what an amazing video loved every bit of it
wow, this is amazingly well documented topic! i learned alot.
The James Webb space telescope can do Direct Imaging and also the upcoming Nancy Grace Roman ( formerly WFIRST ) Space Telescope which has a more advanced Coronagraph but it still need the Starshade to look for Earth like exoplanets
love this woman's determination. ✨💙
Thanks for the video! Make more Astronomy videos please
She's so humble, and looks chill. Must be great have a coffee and chit-chat with her about all her idea of exoplanet
awesome episode!!!
I actually had little to no idea how they do it, this helped a lot thanks!
Very informative ❤❤❤
I believe in you Sara!!!! Keep exploring my friend 🌀✨ 🌌🪐
I like planets there are so many before just 30 years ago we thought only 8 exists sorry pluto
The production on this is so good.