• Question: Do you think that they're are more planets out there that could be discovered that we don't know about yet?

    Asked by Amazing person called Aston Martin to Helen, Hugh, Julian on 20 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Julian Onions

      Julian Onions answered on 20 Nov 2014:

      I think it is quite unlikely there are any big planets left to be discovered. If there are, then they are very very far out, well beyond Pluto. There was an article this week suggesting there might be some big planets a very long way out.
      http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/are-two-massive-planets-lurking-beyond-the-orbit-of-pluto/29741/

      However I think most astronomers believe we’ve found all the big ones, although there are probably many more tiny ones the size of Pluto,
      (dwarf planets) left to be found.

    • Photo: Helen Johnson

      Helen Johnson answered on 21 Nov 2014:

      Oh, loads! However as Julian says they’re almost certainly all in solar systems other than our own. We’ve already managed to find about 1800 planets around other Suns, but the thing is it’s a lot easier to discover Jupiter-sized things than Earth-sized things. We’re probably missing out on a whole bunch of other planets.

      We can look at the dip in light caused by a planet moving in front of its Sun and blocking out a part of its radiation. We can also look for the gravitational pull a planet exerts on its Star, which causes a tiny ‘wobble’.

Comments