Exoplanets Rising: Understanding Doppler Shift, Spectroscopy & Optics in Discovering Planets around other Stars

1. Team D: Kaniesha Stern Charles Ammon Jowers III Tracy Diggs Exoplanets Rising: Understanding Doppler Shift, Spectroscopy & Optics in Discovering Planets around other Stars

2. What are exoplanets and how are they discovered? • Exo means outside of and Planet means Wanderer • Exoplanets are planets outside of our solar system • Alex Wolszczan discovered the first exoplanet • 51 Peg was the second exoplanet discovered • Kepler Satellite Mission • 450 exoplanets have been confirmed

3. Why is discovering exoplanets important? • Find habitable Planets • Find signs of other life forms • What else may we find in the universe

4. Kepler’s Three Laws of planetary motion • Kepler’s First Law: The orbit of every planet is an ellipse with the sun at one of its foci • Kepler’s Second Law: • P2=a3 • Kepler’s Third Law: A planet moves the fastest when it’s closest to a star and Slowest when its furthest away from it’s star

5. 51 Peg 0.62 1.88 4.23 0.24 1.0 164.8 84.0 11.86 29.46 Introduction of Our Solar System

6. Transit Detection and Imaging methods • Transit detection is a way of discovering Exoplanets by viewing them at the moment of an eclipse • Imaging is another way of discovering exoplanets by using a camera to take a picture

7. Radial Velocity and Doppler effect method • Radial Velocity is used to determine Doppler Shift • Doppler effect is the shift in frequency and wavelength of a wave • Spectrographs are used for this method

8. Wien’s Law Wien’s Law states that hotter bodies emit at shorter wavelengths, and a higher frequency; cooler bodies emit at longer wavelengths and a lower frequency If a body emits in the blue, would you expect it to be hotter or colder than a body that emits in the red?

9. Systemic: A Radial Velocity fitting tool • There are five variables that we used to describe planetary orbits, which are: • Mean Anomaly • Mass • Period • Eccentricity • Longitude of Periastron

10. Spectroscopy and Spectrographs • Spectroscopy • interaction of matter and radiation. • Spectrographs • instruments designed to perform spectroscopy, by dispersing light. • Emission Lines • Absorption Lines

11. Behaviors of Light and Optics • Behaviors of Light • Refraction • Reflection • Diffraction

12. Recognizing the signature of life on other planets Earth has a blue sky and green grass … Why is the sky blue? Answer: The sky scatters more blue light than it does red light

13. Chlorophyll Lab • Different Types of Grass • Acetone • (CH3)2CO • Spectrograph • Measured what would appear on the absorption spectrum Why is the grass green? Answer: Chlorophyll reflects yellow and green light infrared light; but absorbs blue and red light

14. Red edge is the signature of vegetation on earth Astronomers will look for red edge on other planets to see if they may have life Red Edge and How it can be used to detect life? —Image courtesy NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

15. Habitability Zone

16. Summary • Search for life outside of our Solar System has begun • Besides Earth, there is no life on other planets in our Solar System • Radial Velocity and Doppler effect, Transit Detection and Imaging are detection methods used to discover exoplanets • Red edge is a signature of life on a planet, a characteristic that our planet has ; which will allow astronomers to find life on other planets.

17. Acknowledgements SEECoS and the Eberly College of Science Norman Freed-Dean of Eberly College of Science Ms. Jody Markley -UBMS Director Mr. Derek James -UBMS Assistant Director Suvrath Mahadevan -Assistant Professor Arpita Roy -Research Assistant Mr. Eric Speight –Teacher AND…. All the UBMS Staff and Faculty

18. Any Questions???