An IM Chat (about finding planets) between DiscoveryNews Editor-in-Chief Lori Cuthbert and Space Editor Ian O'Neill

December 21, 2011

Lori Cuthbert:	hi. quick question
Ian:	fire away!
Lori Cuthbert:	is evvery star system on the same plane as us ie: edge-on?
Ian:	no
Lori Cuthbert:	or is it the orientation of the telescope?
Ian:	just a few
Basically, they are generally randomly oriented to us. Some are side on, some are end on
Lori Cuthbert:	do they maneuver the telescopes around to look at the different star systems from different angles til they get lucky?
Ian:	With Kepler, they look at a wide patch of sky, waiting to see if one of the stars in the field of view dims.
Lori Cuthbert:	so they're just looking at ones that are oriented that right way
Ian:	when that happens, they know there's a system of planets edge-on
yes
Lori Cuthbert:	so there could be bazillions more that aren't observable by us
Ian:	Totally
BUT
Thats when another exoplanet detection method comes in. If they're not edge-on, and IF the planets are massive enough, they might "tug" on their star as they orbit
Lori Cuthbert:	oh that's right
Ian:	Some telescopes are set up to look for the "wobble" of stars
Lori Cuthbert:	they distort their stars' gravitational fields?
Ian:	But Kepler is the only 'scope capable of finding glow mass, tiny planets that are Earth sized
Lori Cuthbert:	i see.