Peter's Index Astronomy Home Peter’s Astronomy Pages
Astronomy SlideShow: Peter's talk on Deep Space Objects
by Peter Eyland
This is a talk that Peter has given to a number of groups, high schools etc.
★ Question 1: How can I see (find & observe) the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) or the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) in the night sky? Can I actually see something without a telescope?
★ Answer 1: Yes, you can see the LMC & the SMC galaxies without a telescope. Take a look at this image that shows you where to look. The LMC & SMC are some of our nearest intergalactic neighbours. The South Celestial Pole is marked with the red icon.
3 Animations were shown: one of Chandra, and two of Spitzer.
★ Question 2: How did they discover an exoplanet? Are they a deep space object?
★ Answer 2: Exoplanets have been discovered by using four techniques. The two most popular research techniques are through seeing variations in brightness & through the Doppler Shift.
Firstly, variations in a distant star’s brightness are measured by instruments and are plotted on a light curve. A drop in the light curve indicates the presence of planet passing in front of a distant star. The image below shows the drop in the light curve.
The second research technique in finding exoplanets is using the Doppler Shift. The image below shows the Doppler Shift, using Spectral analysis.
The first confirmed detection of an exoplanet occurred in 1992. As of 1 September 2018, there are 3,823 confirmed planets in 2,860 systems, with 632 systems having more than one planet.
email Write me a note if you found this useful