5. Planetary Transits
A. Bartlett Giamatti Professor of Astronomy and Physics
This lecture examines the scientific and cultural implications of Pluto's reclassification, then delves into the methods for detecting exoplanets via stellar velocity curves and Doppler shifts, with a focus on 'Hot Jupiters' and the challenges of distinguishing them from binary star systems or pulsating stars.
Frontiers/Controversies in Astrophysics (ASTR 160)
Professor Bailyn talks about student responses for a paper assignment on the controversy over Pluto. The central question is whether the popular debate is indeed a "scientific controversy." A number of scientific "fables" are discussed and a moral is associated with each: the demotion of Pluto (moral: science can be affected by culture); the discovery of 51 Peg b (morals: expect the unexpected, and look at your data); the disproof of pulsation as explanation for the Velocity Curves (moral: sometimes science works like science).
4. Discovering Exoplanets: Hot Jupiters
Next · Lecture 66. Microlensing, Astrometry and Other Methods
Seminar notes & discussion
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