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Astronomy
Today Mr. Gianforte came to our school to talk to the seventh grade about exoplanets which are planets out of our solar system. I learned that there are just under 500 known exoplanets. I also learned that there was a newly discovered planet that is 2 times the size of earth, but it is the smallest exoplanet they have discovered yet. They can tell that it is in the Goldilocks zone, which means it is the right temperature to have life. It is earth like, but that is really all they know.
The biggest exoplanet is 20 times the size of Jupiter which is the largest planet in our solar system. They can use the radial velocity method or the planetary transit to find planets. The radial velocity method is when they use the starlight of the sun the planet circles to find the planet and the planetary transit method is when the planet crosses in front of the star. Those are just a few things Mr. Gianforte taught us.
Article posted November 2, 2010 at 01:01 PM •
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