How Do You Spot an Alien Planet from Earth? (Infographic)

Astronomers have developed some clever methods of detecting tiny planets orbiting distant stars. (Image credit: By Karl Tate, Infographics Artist)

Detecting tiny planets amid a star's glare, from many light-years across the galaxy, is very challenging. Direct imaging, or resolving planets as pixels in a photograph, is only possible today for large, Jupiter-class and above, planets.

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