A few ways to find Extrasolar planets

Astronomers have many ways they can find extrasolar planets. The first technique astronomers use to discover extrasolar planets is with the wobble technique. This is where the gravity of a jupiter sized planet pulls on its star making it wobble around. These planets are always huge and always pretty close to thier star hence the pulling. Not a very good way to find a earthlike planet in a stars habitable zone.

Another way extrasolar planets have been found is through the transit method. This is where we can see a brief dimming in front of the star. When the planet orbits in front of the parent star it will cause aa extemely small dimming and if this occurs over and over it more then likely a extrasolar planet. Still though its not a very good method to find a earthlike planet in the a stars habitable zone.

Theres also direct imaging, which is almost impossible since we dont have telescopes that could see something like a planet which barely gives off any light at all from such far distances. Although I have read somewhere that a few extrasolar planets have been discovered this way. First one was in 2004 but its not a very good method in my book until we devolope more powerful telescopes like the Kepler set to launch in 2009.

Gravitational microlensing, a trick of Einstien gravity, which is capable of detecting smaller earth sized planets. Say an observer sees a distant star A an a dimmer star B aligns with Star A. The gravitational field from star B is going to bend the light from star A resulting in a brighter star A. If thiers a planet in star B, there will be a short but protruding fluctuation of star A's light curve. The only downfall to this method that its not able to be done that often since the conditions for this to work are pretty rare.

Thats all I have for ways to find ExtraSolar Planets for now.

exoplanet, extrasolar planet, microlensing, planet detection, transit method