Discovering Extrasolar Planets: A Tale of Two Telescopes Fritz Benedict, Ph.D., McDonald Observatory of the University of Texas Tuesday, October 27, 6:30 p.m.
Hundreds of extrasolar planets orbiting other stars beyond our solar system have been discovered. Some of these extrasolar planets may actually be a low mass star! In this session, you will learn how research astronomers discover these very distant planets and determine their size and mass. It is actually an interesting tale of two telescopes: The first is one of the biggest optical telescopes, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope at the McDonald Observatory. The second is the highest optical telescope, Hubble Space Telescope. Read more