How telescopes find distant exoplanets
By observing subtle dips in starlight, telescopes like Kepler and TESS reveal distant exoplanets, helping scientists map diverse planetary systems and search for habitable worlds.
Astronomers discover exoplanets, worlds beyond our solar system, by watching for tiny dips in starlight. This "transit method" detects when a planet passes in front of its star, briefly dimming its light. NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, for example, confirmed over 2,600 exoplanets this way, vastly expanding our cosmic neighborhood map.
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