WEBVTT FILE

1
00:00:00.030 --> 00:00:04.070
[Music] How can you find planets orbiting other stars?

2
00:00:04.070 --> 00:00:08.160
So far, the most common and successful

3
00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:12.240
method is watching for distant eclipses, called transits.

4
00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:16.260
As a planet passes in front of its star,

5
00:00:16.260 --> 00:00:20.360
it blocks some of the light, causing a slight drop in brightness.

6
00:00:20.360 --> 00:00:24.510
A very sensitive camera, watching the same star

7
00:00:24.510 --> 00:00:28.690
for long enough, can see two or more of these drops.

8
00:00:28.690 --> 00:00:32.890
The timing and amount of change provide information

9
00:00:32.890 --> 00:00:37.010
about the size of the planet and its distance from its host star.

10
00:00:37.010 --> 00:00:41.190
Larger drops usually mean larger planets.

11
00:00:41.190 --> 00:00:45.370
Complicated dip patterns can indicate multiple planets.

12
00:00:45.370 --> 00:00:49.500
The transit method has already found thousands of planets outside

13
00:00:49.500 --> 00:00:53.670
our solar system, and with upcoming missions scanning even more of the sky,

14
00:00:53.670 --> 00:00:57.870
it will likely find thousands more.

15
00:00:57.870 --> 00:01:01.061
[Music]