The Search for Planets Around Other Stars

An Introductory Resource Guide for College Instructors

Updated May 2014

About the Guide

The discovery and characterization of exoplanets is one of the most exciting and fast-changing areas in modern astronomical research. As a result, Astronomy 101 instructors have had trouble keeping up with the flow of new techniques, instruments and discoveries. To help, NASA missions, educational projects around the country, and scientists themselves have produced a wide range of materials that astronomy instructors (and their students) can use to learn about the latest developments. This annotated guide is designed to highlight useful materials on the web and in print. It was produced in consultation with NASA education specialists, who suggested some resources that may not have been well known.

We include only those non-technical materials that instructors around the U.S. are likely to have access to. This guide includes only a sampling of non-technical materials that instructors around the U.S. have been using and are likely to have access to. Items were selected based on their level of difficulty (Astro 101 level and below), the likelihood of easy access by a college audience, and their potential usefulness for teaching and learning. Additions and comments are more than welcome and can be directed to: Greg Schultz: gschultz {at} astrosociety.org and Bonnie Meinke: Meinke {at} stsci.edu

We welcome your feedback! Please complete a short questionnaire at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ExoplanetResourceGuide so we may better understand who is using the guide, in what settings, and how. Thank you in advance for your feedback.

Compiled by: Andrew Fraknoi (Foothill College)

Coordination: NASA Astrophysics Science Education and Public Outreach Forum

�� NASA education product reviewed materials
The NASA Earth & Space Science Education Product Review evaluates NASA Science Mission Directorate funded educational materials via peer-review by a panel of scientists and educators. Web sites with this symbol contain education materials developed for classroom use that have passed the NASA Earth & Space Science Education Product Review. The web site may also contain outreach resources that may be of interest to the reader.

Web Sites for the General Reader

Artist��s conception of the Kepler-10 system, which has two Super Earths in close orbits around their host star. The larger planet, Kepler-10c, is in the foreground and the smaller Kepler-10b transits the host star in the background. (Credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle)

NASA Sources:

�� PlanetQuest (from the Exoplanet Exploration Program at the Jet Propulsion Lab), for students and beginners, includes introductory materials and illustrations; it focuses mostly on NASA work and missions: http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/

�� The Kepler Mission Web Site: http://kepler.nasa.gov/ is the public web site for the telescope in space that is searching for planets using the transit technique and is currently our best hope for finding earth-like planets.

Other Sources:

The Extra-solar Planets Encyclopedia, maintained by Jean Schneider of the Paris Observatory, has the largest catalog of planet discoveries and useful background material (some of it more technical): http://exoplanet.eu/

The Planetary Society Exoplanets Pages have a dynamic catalog of planets found and explanations: http://www.planetary.org/exoplanets/

The California Planet Search site highlights the work of the original American team of planet hunters (Marcy and Butler) and their colleagues, and has useful general background information as well: http://www.exoplanets.org/cps.html

Pulsar Planets is a brief introduction to the very first planet discoveries, planets around the corpses of dead stars called neutron stars: http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/alex/pulsar_planets.htm

The Exoplanet Data Explorer is an interactive table and plotter for exploring and displaying data from the Exoplanet Orbit Database that keeps up with the published characteristics of the planets found so far (a bit more technical): http://www.exoplanets.org

The Visual Exoplanets Catalogue is a ��toolkit�� for visualizing and organizing information about planets out there http://exoplanet.hanno-rein.de (This is for people with a bit more background) You can also get an ��Exoplanet�� app for your iPhone/iPad; see last section.)

The Habitable Exoplanet Catalog is a page that lists and describes those planets that are in the habitable

The Search for Planets Around Other Stars

An Introductory Resource Guide for College Instructors

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Web Sites for the General Reader