Question: How can you detect exoplanets?

Heidi answered on 11 Nov 2019:

There’s actually loads of different methods to detect exoplanets, but the two most common ways are the “transit method” and the “radial velocity method”.
The “transit method” involves watching a star for a long time, and if we see a small dip in the amount of light from the star, it could be an exoplanet passing in front of that star.
The “radial velocity method” is trickier because we don’t actually “see” the exoplanet! We take measurements of how the star is moving, or wobbling, and if we’re lucky, it’s a planet causing the star to wobble!