Extrasolar Planets:

review of the field, archival data

analysis, and telescope proposal
writing
Prof. Joe Carson
Office: 106
Office Hours: Mon/Wed 2:00-3:30
Email: jcolerc@unal.edu.co
Course webpage: carsonjc.people.cofc.edu/exoplanets

For Wednesday, complete the short writing assignment posted on the

course webpage.
What is a planet?
What is a planet?
Not an easy question to answer!

Definition of a Planet, in our Solar

System, by the International
Astronomical Union (IAU)

1. is in orbit around the Sun,

2. has sufficient mass to assume
hydrostatic equilibrium (a nearly round
shape), and
3. has "cleared the neighborhood" around
its orbit.
A more general definition of a planet
(by Prof. Carson)

All of the previous stuff, plus no nuclear

burning. Stars have nuclear burning, planets do
not.
 What is an extrasolar planet?
Most common definition:
An extrasolar planet is a planet that
orbits a star other than the Sun.

The above definition is okay, but the situation can be complicated.

What if a planet is ejected from its star system; is it no
longer a planet? "orphan" planets
What if an object has nuclear burning, but only for certain
rare elements? brown dwarfs
If the Moon was almost the size of Earth, would it still be
a moon? could Earth-moon be a "binary planet" instead?
Current Status of Search for Other
Worlds:

3572
confirmed
extrasolar
.
planets,
almost all
found
through
indirect
detection.
Current Status of Search for Other
Worlds:
Most Surprising Insight from Extrasolar
Planet Surveys -- planet systems are very
diverse.
Our own Solar System is
not necessarily the normal
model. Planets come in a
huge variety of masses and
. orbital types. They also
orbit around vastly more
diverse star types than we
expected.
Artist impression of a gas-giant planet
orbiting extremely close to a star.
 History of Search for Other Worlds:
First Discovery of an Extrasolar Planet

1992: Radio astronomers

.
. monitoring the pulses from a
Artist rendition of the PSR B1257+12 planet
system. Credit: wikimedia commons.
unexpectedly discover two
extrasolar planets while
neutron star, the
gravitationally collapsed
remains of an exploded star.
The neutron stars planets
are believed to have formed
after the star exploded.
Current Status of Search for Other
Worlds:
Based on statistical information, how many
planets do we think there are there in our
universe?
At least 1023.

Count every single

grain of sand on
.
every single beach on
Earth. Increase that
number by about a
thousand-fold.
Population Statistics of Known Exoplanets
Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia exoplanet.eu -- a very useful
website for examining statistics on exoplanet populations.

.
Population Statistics of Known Exoplanets
Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia exoplanet.eu -- a very useful
website for examining statistics on exoplanet populations.