Seeing ‘rocky’ exoplanets
NOV 26, 2009
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.023876
Nature : Exoplanets are distant worlds that orbit stars other than our Sun. More than 370 such planets are known, and a growing fraction of them are discovered because they transit their star as seen from Earth. The special transit geometry enables us to measure masses and radii for dozens of planets, and we have identified gases in the atmospheres of several giant ones.Within the next decade, we expect to find and study a “habitable” rocky planet transiting a cool red dwarf star close to our Sun, says Drake Deming and Sara Seager . “Eventually, we will be able to image the light from an Earth-like world orbiting a nearby solar-type star,” they say.
© 2009 American Institute of Physics
