1
00:00:00,020 --> 00:00:04,240
[Music] How can you find planets orbiting other stars?

2
00:00:05,300 --> 00:00:08,160
So far, the most common and successful

3
00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:11,780
method is watching for distant eclipses, called transits.

4
00:00:13,260 --> 00:00:15,880
As a planet passes in front of its star,

5
00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:19,860
it blocks some of the light, causing a slight drop in brightness.

6
00:00:20,900 --> 00:00:24,500
A very sensitive camera, watching the same star

7
00:00:24,500 --> 00:00:27,640
for long enough, can see two or more of these drops.

8
00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:32,640
The timing and amount of change provide information

9
00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:35,600
about the size of the planet and its distance from its host star.

10
00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:39,540
Larger drops usually mean larger planets.

11
00:00:40,620 --> 00:00:43,920
Complicated dip patterns can indicate multiple planets.

12
00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:49,260
The transit method has already found thousands of planets outside

13
00:00:49,260 --> 00:00:53,660
our solar system, and with upcoming missions scanning even more of the sky,