How We Find Other Worlds
Students learn how astronomers discover exoplanets using the transit and wobble methods, how they study planet atmospheres, and what we know about Kepler-452b, the TRAPPIST-1 system and Proxima b.
Grades 5-8About 15 minutes of narrated flight, plus discussion stops6 stops
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What students will see and do
Students fly from the Sun to Kepler-452b, two views of the TRAPPIST-1 system, Proxima Centauri and Proxima b as Aetherion explains each planet hunting method. The class can pause to discuss at the Sun, Kepler-452b and Proxima b stops.
Learning objectives
- Explain why exoplanets are difficult to see directly next to their stars.
- Describe how the transit method uses dips in starlight to find planets and measure their size.
- Describe how the wobble (Doppler) method uses shifts in starlight to find planets.
- Define the habitable zone and explain why it is closer to dim stars than to bright ones.
NGSS connections
| MS-ESS1-3 | Students analyze and interpret data such as light curves and orbit periods to determine the scale properties of planetary systems beyond our own. |
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Stops on this journey
- A Firefly Beside a Searchlight (discussion stop)
- Watching for a Shadow (discussion stop)
- Seven Worlds
- Reading a Planet's Air
- The Wobbling Neighbor
- The Closest Known Exoplanet (discussion stop)
Vocabulary
- exoplanet
- transit
- light curve
- Doppler shift
- habitable zone
- tidally locked
- red dwarf
- atmosphere