Using Exoplanets to Engage Students in Physics

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Scientific paper

A hundred planets transiting bright stars are now known, ensuring that at any particular site at least one transit is visible on any given night. Most of these worlds were discovered with 4-inch telescopes, and so the modest telescopes that nest atop the physics buildings of many college campuses are more than adequate to pursue the transit events. Fueled by results from the NASA Kepler Mission and the promise of Earth-like worlds, exoplanets offer an enormous opportunity to engage first-year college students in physics. The simple geometric nature of these systems permits the direct application of introductory mechanics to deduce the basic properties of some planets orbiting other stars. Moreover, by gathering and analyzing their own data, students can understand the fundamentals of experimental science and data analysis. I will discuss the opportunities to engage students in physics through transiting exoplanets, with specific examples drawn from a first-year undergraduate course at Harvard University. I will also review the practical aspects, including software and hardware, of establishing an exoplanet observing lab appropriate for college students.

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