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NAAP Extrasolar Planets — Pedagogical Objectives



Basic Concepts

  • Students will understand the definition of center of mass.
  • Given two masses, students will be able to approximate the center of mass.
  • Students will demonstrate that they understand that planets orbit the center of mass.
  • Students will understand that Kepler’s Laws are slightly reinterpreted/adjusted by center of mass.
  • Students will understand that Doppler shift occurs for both light and sound.
  • Students will be able to demonstrate the effect of radial motion on light, redshift or blueshifting.

Methods

  • Students will be able to list three ways extrasolar planets can be detected (there are more than three, however).
  • Students will be able to explain why directly observing a planet is very difficult and impossible in most cases.
  • Students will be able to explain the radial velocity technique conceptually.
  • Students will be able to explain the transit method conceptually.

Radial Velocity Method

  • Students will be able to differentiate between the standard depiction of orbits (orbital view) and how the earth view can be different.
  • Students will understand the effect of inclination on observability.
  • Students will understand the interplay between planet mass and star mass for observability.
  • Students will be able to describe the effect of eccentricity on the shape of the radial velocity curve.
  • Students will be able to describe the effect of the semimajor axis on observability.

Radial Velocity Method

  • Students will be able to describe conceptually what a light curve is and how it is produced.
  • Students will understand the effect of inclination on observability.
  • Students will be able to describe how the size of a planet is determined.

Analysis

  • Students will be able to describe observational error and noise.
  • Students will be able to describe the effects of noise on detection.
  • Students will be able to demonstrate that numbers cited are, because of inclination, usually a bound and not an actual number.