Detect exoplanets from your back garden

Practical astronomy projects for every level of expertise

Exoplanets are planets that orbit stars other than the Sun. It’s incredible to think that before 1992 it was still uncertain whether exoplanets existed. Today, the number of known exoplanets is just over 5,000 and this total is increasing each day. Here, I will show you that even amateurs can detect these faraway worlds from their back gardens.

There are several indirect ways by which exoplanets are found, as only a handful have been directly observed by very large telescopes.