The planets themselves are so far, and it's not like we are landing on them and taking samples. So how the heck do astronomers know what these distant planets are made of?
2007-05-09 11:33:41 · 2 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Astronomers find distant planets by 4 different ways. There is a Doppler shift method where the star moves from blue to red colors. Transit events which is when the planet goes in front of another star. Wobble technique which is astrometry measurements. AND you can always block the star so that you can see the planet.
Astronomers learn the composition of these planets by analyzing light received from the planet which tells us what the atmosphere is made of. Do you know what it looks like when you defragment your computer? There are different colors and spaces in those colors. This is what a light spectrum from these planets look like. The space or gap in color is how the elements are figured out. AND the planet's actual composition is found by figuring out the density of the planet. The density tells which elements (because of the density of the different elements) that the planet is composed of.
P.S. I have no idea what Gene is talking about. I just told you how we do it.
2007-05-09 11:52:14 · answer #1 · answered by hotblondbabe420 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No one ever said we did. All we know is their mass usually and their orbit and sometimes temperature. We have measured a trace of water on what we think is a gas giant but that's it.
2007-05-09 18:42:58 · answer #2 · answered by Gene 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋