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On
a planet or satellite orbiting a star, just like Earth is a planet
orbiting the Sun. Astronomers have discovered several planets orbiting
known stars, and it’s quite possible that some of them might
have favourable conditions for supporting life. The discovery of
a planet which is similar enough to Earth for life to be sustained
is still a few years off, when new telescopes will be probing deeper
and deeper into the universe.
The key to finding
suitable planets is to look for ‘wobbles’ in the motion
of stars which orbiting planets would cause. Just as the star exerts
a gravitational pull on a nearby planet, the planet also exerts a
gravitational pull on the star. In the case of sufficiently large
planets, this causes a ‘kink’ in the star’s motion.
Although the search for life has as yet been futile, wobbles and new
planets are being discovered all the time. |
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