Introduction

Your school's middle school astronomy club asked you to give them a short presentation about how planets outside the solar system can be detected.

They realize that stars are very far away. How can we possibly detect something as small as another planet so far away?

These young astronomy club members are not too interested in the technical details of these detection methods. However, if you can come up with a long list of several different detection methods they will be impressed. (They cannot think of even one way of how such far away planets can be detected.)

The Task

Compile a list of as many extrasolar planetary detection methods as you can find. You have to be able to explain these methods briefly to members of a middle school astronomy club.

The Process and Resources

Search for extrasolar planet detection methods. Here are the names of some methods:

- microlensing
- asometric
- photometric
- interferometry
- astrometry.

• Extrasolar Planets Searches: Ongoing Programmes and Future Projects
  
• The nulling interferometry method
• Capabilities of Various Planet Detection Methods
• Extrasolar Detection Methods
• The Search for the Extrasolar Planets: A Brief History of the Search, the Findings and the Future Implications
• Finding Extrasolar Planets - Warble, Wobble or Wink

Research the principles behind how each specific method works.

Take notes that will help you explain each extrasolar planet detection method.

Prepare a simple flipchart drawing that shows the principles of each method.

Give the presentation to the astronomy club (your classroom).

Be prepared to answer some obvious questions they might have, for example:

• How many planets have been detected so far?
• How similar to earth are the detected planets?
• What is the purpose of these studies? Just to find more planets, or to find life on other planets?
• Which websites helped you most in this small study?
• Is it easy/possible for a school's astronomy club to help find these extrasolar planets?

Project 2061 Benchmarks for Science Literacy

The Physical Setting - The Universe - Grades 9 through 12

• Increasingly sophisticated technology is used to learn about the universe (and to find extrasolar planets). Visual, radio, and x-ray telescopes collect information from across the entire spectrum of electromagnetic waves; computers handle an avalanche of data and increasingly complicated computations to interpret them.

California Academic Content Science Standards: Grades 9 - 12
Investigation and Experimentation

• Students know the evidence for the existence of planets orbiting other stars.

During this WebQuest you learned:

• How scientists use leading edge technologies to study the universe.
• How to explain leading edge technologies and methods to middle school students.

This WebQuest can be assessed using scientific research and presentation skills rubrics.

Here is a list of assessment rubrics

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