- 51 Pegasi is a Sun-like star located 50.9 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Pegasus. It was the first main-sequence star found to have an exoplanet orbiting it
A
analyze
- study or investigate
astronomers
- a scientist who studies planets, comets and other space bodies
atmosphere
- the air or gases that surround a planet
B
bacteria
- a one celled living organism
C
carbon dioxide
- a gas given off by animals and taken in by plant
composition
- what something is made of; the ingredients or parts making up a substance or object
compressed
- squeezed together
coronagraph
- an attachment to a telescope designed to block out direct light from a star so that dimmer objects nearby can be seen
D
debris disk
- disks of dust and other solid material in orbit around a star; the "leftovers" of the process of planet formation that may indicate presence of exoplanets
decompression
- to separate out from a compressed version - spread apart
demoted
- to categorize something on a lower level
detected
- found or seen
determine
- to find or see or understand
diverse
- having many differences in type or character, unlike others
Doppler shift
- change in the frequency of a wave
dwarf planet
- a space body too small to be called a planet
E
enhance
- make better
exoplanets
- planets that exist orbiting stars other than our own sun
extrasolar planets
- planets that exist orbiting stars other than our own sun
G
galaxy
- a large system of stars
gaseous
- to contain or be made of gas
gravitational
- related to gravity
H
habitable zone
- the distance from a star most likely to have conditions right for life on a planet
I
inaccurate
- not quite true
infared
- electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths longer than the red end of the visible light spectrum
L
light-year
- distance light travels in one Earth year or 9,500,000,000,000 kilometers (about 93 million miles)
O
orbiting
- the curved path of a planet around its sun
P
phenomenon
- unusual wonders of space
pulsar
- when a massive star runs out of fuel and collapses in on itself, the explosion leaves a very dense neutron star that emits pulses of radiation at regular intervals - a pulsar
R
radial velocity
- the speed of an object as it moves toward or away from an observer
repurpose
- use for a different purpose than originally intended
rogue planet
- a lonely, nonconforming planet
S
satellite
- a body that orbits another body
spectroscopy
- the study of light passing through matter
starshade
- a device positioned between a space-based telescope and a star being observed, intended to block the light from a planet
