Transit Method to Detect Exoplanets

Transit Method uses the concept of shadows to find exoplanets. If a planet’s orbit around it’s star is angled just right, the planet will regularly pass in front of its star or ’transit’, from our point of view. When it does, the planet will block a tiny bit of the star’s light. This is very similar to what happens during a solar eclipse, when the moon passes directly in front of the sun, blocking its light. For a brief period of time, that star actually gets dimmer. It’s a tiny change, but it’s enough to clue astronomers into the presence of an exoplanet around a distant star. If the brightness of a star changes regularly and consistently, it could mean that a planet is repeatedly transiting the star and blocking a little bit of starlight each time around. And that is how the Transit method works!