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But what about me? 🥹
Transits and Radio Velocity are certainly the most commonly used methods of planet hunting, but there are a lot more out there! In this section, you will learn about the other methods that are less popular or theorized!
Direct Imaging - Taking Pictures
In order to find smaller exoplanets that may be hidden by the bright flare of the stars they orbit, astronomers could take pictures of them by removing the glare of the stars which cover them. The planets, however, are much smaller in comparison to their stars, and also release less energy. This means, they can be incredibly hard to spot!
There are mainly two ways astronomers block our light, or dim the brightness of the stars to see the planets, by using coronagraphs and starshade devices. Discover how these technologies work in "how telescopes work!"
Gravitational Micro-lensing
With gravitational microlensing, light received from a star is bent by the gravity of another planet which passes through the star it orbits and earth. Since all objects have a gravitational pull, big objects specifically are able to have a stronger pull. This means they can warp "space fabric" and cause distortions and redirect light. Gravitational microlensing means that when another star or planet's gravity redirects and focuses light on another star, it makes the distant star appear brighter. This hints that there is an exoplanet to be discovered!
Astrometry
The main idea that astrometry is based off of, is the fact that the orbit of a planet can cause the star it orbits to orbit due to it's gravitational pull. Stars and planets pull on each other, so a star can be pulled out of it's usual position, and move in unexpected directions. Astrometry detects the motion of the wobbling star, by making measurements of it's position in the sky. When a star begins to wobble, this signals to scientists there may be a nearby planet.
Additionally, this has been the oldest method used to search for new planets. The advantages to this method is that it is one of the most sensitive methods for detecting an exoplanet, and doesn't depend on the exoplanet being in near-perfect alignment with earth, meaning it can be applied to more stars. However, astrometry is extremely hard to do, and has not succeeded yet! This is because the measurements need to be extremely precise, which is hard to achieve, even without advanced technology. Further, it is extremely sensitive and if the distance of the celestial object is too far away, displacement of the star may be hard to see. This means, that using astrometry to detect further away objects is extremely difficult.
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