In this activity, students explore the transit method of searching for planets. They plot graphs of light measurements from stars, searching for dimming that indicates the presence of a planet, and calculate its size.
By the end of this activity, students should be able to:
- understand the transit method for detecting extrasolar planets
- understand that, even though distant planets cannot be seen, their presence can be detected by their effect on something else
- use data to predict scientific outcomes
- work with other people to achieve a shared goal
- plot a line graph.
Download the Word file for:
- introduction/background notes
- what you need
- what to do
- student handouts.
Related content
Read the article Planet hunting.
Find out more about the transit method and help scientists identify exoplanets by joining the citizen science projects Planet Hunters and Agent Exoplanet.
Discover how intermediate school teacher Matt Boucher incorporated planet hunting into a unit on light.
Check out a timeline explaining the history of planet hunting – from the discovery of the Solar System's outermost planets to extrasolar planets.
